


This May As Well Happen

by AutoCon23



Series: Boondock Saints/The Walking Dead Crossover I Want Because Fuck My Life [1]
Category: Boondock Saints (Movies)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Blood and Torture, But want it built up right, Child Abuse, F/M, I promise, I will make sure to warn readers when the really dark shit comes up, I’ll get there eventually, I’ve decided to put smut in this, Kidnapping, Multi, Mutilation, Other, Rape/Non-con Elements, Why have I done this to myself, but not for a good long while, eventual Connor MacManus/original female character/Murphy MacManus/Daryl Dixon, so If you don’t want to read certain parts you’ll be aware, so you have to do it yourself, when you want a specific ship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:48:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 59,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28434153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutoCon23/pseuds/AutoCon23
Summary: Katie only came to Boston for school.Instead, she got a creepy stalker and.... feelings? For a pair of brash, whiskey-drinking, smoking hot Irish brothers.Well, her life hasn’t been the same since she was 10, so this may as well happen.Why not see where this goes?
Relationships: Connor MacManus/Murphy MacManus/Original Female Character(s), Connor MacManus/Original Female Charcter(s), Murphy MacManus/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Boondock Saints/The Walking Dead Crossover I Want Because Fuck My Life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2082666
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally planning to post the first chapter New Year’s day, but I figured that if I posted now, then I’ll have to post in the future instead of putting it off. So far, I only have 2 chapters finsished, this one included. When I first started writing this series, I was mostly jumping around all over the place. I’ve got a good chunk of the first episode of TWD done, then I’ve got a little after the start of TWD season 2, part of BDS2 written, Negan’s first visit to Alexandria, and another section with Katie and Negan after the first battle in Alexandria. I’ve got ideas on what I want to write and I keep going off to try and at least start writing them so I can work them in later instead of writing the damn chapters I should. So please be patient with my ADHD ass, as I desperatly try to write and post chapters for all you lovely people who thought it was a good idea to read my fic.
> 
> I’m gonna try and do a chapter a week on Fridays (maybe), but what I might do is give you this chapter and the second one next week. Then, I’ll work on finishing up the rest of this part and then post regularly while I try to finish up the next part which will take place during the first Boondock Saint.
> 
> For this part and a couple of parts after in the series, it’ll be in 3rd person, but follows Katie specifically. When it gets around to TWD, it’ll switch from 1st person from Katie’s perspective, but I might add parts (mostly when smut comes around, but also maybe some outside perspective of their relationship) that go 3rd person.
> 
> If interested, I’ll probably make a one-shot in the series called Part 0 that will have a breakdown of what will take place during each part. Nothing spoilery just showing what will take place when so if a part stops someplace weird, you’ll know why.
> 
> There are notes at the end that also explain some other things. You don’t have to read either, but kudos to you if you do.
> 
> Enjoy!!

Katie ran down the street as fast as she could. It had been cloudy all day but hadn’t rained like the weatherman predicted for today just yet. She was hoping that she would already be tucked away at work before the rain started. When she had left her classes and was halfway to work, it started drizzling.

She hoped for this because somewhere along today, she lost her damn umbrella and she’s getting a bit annoyed at her immense bad luck.

The rain started picking up and Katie was getting soaked in the downpour.

‘Just keep going,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’m only a couple blocks away. Just keep going and Doc might give you a shot of whiskey to warm up.’

He might actually not since she was 17, but then again, Doc hired a 17-year-old to work at his bar, so she didn’t think he cared too much.

Connor and Murphy might give her a shot, but then make fun of her looking like a drowned cat. Her mid-back length rainbow-dyed hair down. She usually kept it all up in a ponytail or messy bun, but she figured that since it was for work, she at least tried to put some effort into her appearance. She had her bangs pulled back so it would at least be out of the way while she worked. She had also put the effort to try and curl her hair so it would look really cute for Connor and Murphy, but Katie is positive the rain drenching her hair already worked out the curls. And she was impressed with how she’d done them this time too.

Before long, she sees the door to McGinty’s, where she works as a server there. Since she’s a minor, Doc won’t let her work behind the bar, other than to grab dirty glasses, clean the bar, and serve non-alcoholic drinks or snacks.

She goes through the door and tries desperately to keep all the water dripping on her from landing on the hardwood floor and keep it on the little floor mat. The bar was only just opened an hour ago and was already packed, the MacManus brothers were here already since she heard them first. Well, she heard them laughing.

“You look like a drowned cat,” Connor laughed, walking over with a towel that Doc tossed him. Seems the old man had some prepped in case anyone got unlucky with the rain like her.

“I feel like one,” she grumbled, taking the towel and working to carefully dry her hair. Yeah, she’s gonna put it up in a messy bun for the rest of her shift. Thank goodness, it’s Saint Paddy’s. Doc told her that it’s one of his busiest, and profitable, days since McGinty’s is an Irish pub instead of the common American bar and sells the good shit to his customers and not that watered piss Americans drink. Doc’s words, not hers.

She takes the hair and from her hair and fixes it up in a messy bun and takes her coat off, walking past the bar and heading to the back of the bar where the employee break from was located. She hung her coat up, checked the mirror to make sure she looked okay, and headed out to start her shift.

Doc greets her warmly and subtly hands her a shot of whiskey.

“T-t-t-ta warm y-y-y-you up, lass,” he stuttered, before yelling fuck and ass as he does.

She goes behind the bard and starts collecting some dirty glasses that were left on the bar. Murphy grabs her attention with a wave of his hand. Grabbing the bar rag, she moves closer and starts wiping the bar.

“What’cha need, Murph,” she asks, shooting the Irishman a smile.

“How were classes today,” he asks, Connor nodding as he took a sip of his whiskey.

The girl’s eyes lit up and she started telling the brothers all about her day and the stuff she learned from her Medieval history class that day. At some point, Rocco had shown up shouting for Doc to get him a beer and leaning over the counter to kiss Katie on the cheek as he does with every server Doc employs (which were conveniently all women. Doc admitted that male patrons tended to buy more drinks if it meant that they got to interact with pretty women more. Sneaky old man.). Eventually, she had to go around the bar and give out drinks and snacks that had been ordered earlier, but she didn’t mind. She got left good tips on busy days.

As her shift goes by, the door rings open, signaling another customer had entered, she turns to greet them, but the smile falls from her face immediately.

A man had walked in. He looked like the typical fraternity brother. Styled short brown hair, green eyes, handsome face, and heart-melting smile. He wore a sweater that had the symbols for his fraternity and expensive-looking jeans and designer shoes. However, Katie knew who he was.

She immediately goes to stand behind the bar, specifically close to the MacManus brothers and Rocco. Connor and Murph notice and look at the newcomer. The immediately grimace at the sight of the frat brother, university kids don’t usually show up at the pub unless Doc has a special deal going on, like today. Frat boys were unruly and rude to staff when they came here and they mentally prepared themselves for the trouble this bloke was most likely to start.

The man settles at the bar, “so this is where you’ve been hiding,” he says, smirking at me.

“Who says I’m hiding,” I snap at him. Asshole doesn’t get to have any more of my pleasantries. My friends look at me confused. They’ve never seen me like this. I looked about ready to jump the bar and throat punch the guy.

He laughs, flags down Doc who looks at her confused, and orders a drink from the old man. Katie kinda wished Doc would spit in it for her, but since he didn’t know this newcomer as she did, she didn’t expect him to be openly hostile like she was. He was also a sweet old man, so she didn’t think he had a mean bone in his body (we the readers however know better).

“What are you doing here, Travis,” she finally asked.

Travis takes a long drag of his beer before addressing her, “isn’t it obvious,” he responds, “I’m here for a drink.”

She rolls her eyes, “like hell that’s all you’re here for.”

“True, true,” he agreed, toying with her a little, “I’m here for you really. You’ve been avoiding me. Never realized how hard you are to find when you put your mind to it.”

“What do you want,” Katie asked, already mentally preparing to bolt out the door.

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an item. It was her umbrella. The fucking asshole had her damn umbrella the entire time. When the fuck did he take it? She’s gotten good at avoiding him on campus.

“Figured you’d need this today,” he said, looking very smug, “I was going to give it to you earlier, but you are very difficult to get a hold of as I mentioned earlier.”

He places the umbrella on the bar, pays for his drink, and stands up. He heads to the door of the pub and before he leaves, he turns back to the girl.

“By the way,” he says, “you have a very lovely apartment.”

The color drains from Katie’s face and her face morphs from anger to fear. The motherfucker found where she lived.

**Again**.

At her expression, he laughs, and leaves the pub. Connor and Murphy who have been watching this go down, try to get her attention. Trying to snap her out of her stupor. Murphy gets up and pulls her out from behind the bar and have her sit with them. Doc puts a glass of water on the bar for her and goes to take care of the other patrons.

After a while, she snaps out of it and gets a pissed off look on her face.

“That sleazy son of a bitch,” she snarls, quietly, “I swear to the stars and sky above, I’m gonna kill him.”

“Who th’ hell is that asshole,” Connor asks, handing her the water.

She takes a few sips, before setting the glass back on the bar and answers, “His name’s Travis. He’s this guy I go to school with. For some reason, since we met, he’s been obsessed with me. I don’t know why. He’s been stalking me all over Boston. When I lived on campus, he’d keep trying to get into my dorm. After a semester of that, I told my parents what happened when I visited them over the holiday break and they agreed to let me move off-campus. When I moved off campus, he somehow kept finding out where I lived. I’ve moved to three different apartments since January of last year. Now it seems on moving for the fourth time. Good thing I only have a three-month lease, it runs out at the end of March and I guess I won’t renew it now, which is a shame since I really liked it too. God, I’m not looking forward to calling my parents again.”

“Why haven’t you gone to the police,” Murphy asks.

“That’s the thing, Murph,” she groaned, “I did. I’ve been trying to get a restraining order, but it’s been denied. I’m 17, a minor, and to get one, I have to have a parent or legal guardian sign off. My parents are back in Virginia and can’t come up because of their work and at this point, I’m just waiting till I turn 18, then I won’t need to bother them about it.”

The boys swore at that and she nodded, “yeah, ‘bout sums it up nicely,” she joked, finally calming down, now that she had a good venting session.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner,” Connor said, “we’d’ve given the prick a proper ass-kicking for ya.” Murphy and Rocco nodded in agreement.

“No offense, guys,” Katie countered, “but I’ve only known you guys for like two months. This isn’t exactly something you bring up in conversation with people you’ve only known a short while. Not to mention, it’s my problem. I can handle Travis. So far, he’s only stuck with being a super creepy stalker who occasionally breaks into my home to steal my umbrella…” I trailed off and noticed the looks the boys were giving me, “okay, I’ll admit that sounds way worse when said out loud, but I can handle Travis. He doesn’t scare me,” I shot the boys an annoyed look too, “and I’m not some damsel in distress who needs to be saved by some knight or prince or whatever. I know how to defend myself and I have all sorts of items hidden around my apartment that I can use as blunt weapons to bludgeon the asshole to death if he tries to do anything to me.”

“We ain’ sayin’ that your some damsel needin’ to be saved. We saw ye sock a guy in the jaw for grabbin’ your ass last week,” Murphy asked, “but if he’s been following you all over Boston and creeping on you like this, Con and I don’t mind offering our couch to stay on until you can get a restraining order.”

“Yeah,” Connor agreed, “don’t renew your lease, pack up the stuff you don’t need and stay with us until you turn 18, have your parents save that money to buy you a graduation gift or something. We live pretty close to the pub. We’ll make sure that your parents have our address and phone number so they can find or reach you anytime they need to. Rocco has a car that he lends us, so we can take you to class and to anywhere else you need it to go. That ass doesn’t know where we live.”

“Not to mention,” Rocco interjected, “if he sees us hanging around and looking all scary to anyone who tries to mess with you, he might get the memo and leave you the fuck alone. I can even ask around to see if we can try and get some payback on that asshole. Maybe see how he likes being creeped on all over the city. Taste of his own medicine and all that shit.”

Katie drank more water and was quiet for a bit, weighing her options.

“I don’t know, guys,” she admitted, “it’s kinda weird that you are offering something like this to someone you met only two months ago. Not to mention, I’m a girl. I’ve met several guys who tried to creep on me before. No offense, I don’t think you would, but my parents might not like the idea of me living with guys they don’t know.”

“None taken. It’s good to be suspicious of strangers and it’s your parent’s job to be suspicious of everyone since you’re their daughter,” Connor waved her off, “you don’t have to agree now. It’s an open invitation.”

“Besides,” Murphy added, “if our mother finds out that a girl was being creeped on by someone and we didn’t do anything to help, she’d fly all the way here, deal with guy herself and then give us an ass-kicking we won’t ever forget.”

At the mention of their mother’s wrath, the brothers shuddered at the thought. Annabelle MacManus was not someone you wanted to cross, not even her own sons.

Katie laughed at the mention of their mother, “I just might need her then, if she can do all that.”

“We’ll put her down as plan Z then,” Connor joked.

“In case plans A through Y don’t work out,” Murphy finished.

Katie laughed again and then stood up from her seat, “thanks for talk,” she said, “I definitely need this. I don’t know about your offer. I’ll think on it and mention it to my parents, but I don’t think it’ll come down to that. I do think my parents will be relieved to hear that I have people in my corner in case shit hits the fan with Travis.”

“Something tells me it might,” Murphy grumbled, taking a sip of his whiskey.

Despite Travis’ visit to the pub, the rest of her shift goes by smoothly. Katie made quite a bit of cash in tips. Doc told her that Travis won’t be allowed at his pub anymore and that if she needed a place, he had a spare room above the pub, he was more than willing to let her use. She smiled at that and said she’ll think on it and bade him a good night. Rocco had already left, but Connor and Murphy waited for her outside the pub to make sure that she got home safely and to chase of Travis if he tried anything.

As the boys tried to flag down a taxi to drive them to her apartment complex, she couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face and the happiness bubbling in her. The fact that she has help for dealing with Travis provided a level of relief she didn’t realize that she needed. For the first time since moving to Boston, she felt herself relax and finally enjoy being in the city.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!! Figured the start of the new year was worth posting my next chapter. Enjoy!!

It’s been a week since the incident with Travis and Katie was starting to feel better. The boys had made it their mission to help keep Travis away from her. They started walking her home after work and Rocco showed up most mornings to drive her to class. Katie ad called her parents and told them what had happened and they were understandably upset that their daughter was in this situation. Katie told them about Doc’s and the boy’s offer, just so they knew that there were more options on the table. Her father told her he wasn’t comfortable with her living with the MacManus brothers, but if Doc had a spare room that could be converted into a makeshift apartment, then he’ll think about it.

“I plan to head to you anyway,” her father had told her, “I won’t be there until next month, but Michelle already told us she’ll take you in again until we get you situated in a new place. I can meet with Doc myself and see this spare room with you.”

The fact that her father was coming up to help her made Katie feel better. Travis won’t try anything if her father is around. The last time Travis and her dad interacted was when he tried to corner her in the food court, unknowingly, in full view of her parents and her father just about put that boy in a casket. Security got involved and Travis smartly didn’t press charges for assault. He stayed away from her until a month after her parents left and then picked right back up with his creepy, stalker habits.

When she excitedly told the boys her father was coming and how Travis will stay away from her while he was in town, they were happy to hear.

“Bring him here,” Connor said, “we’ll buy him a beer for every punch he nailed on that fucker.”

She’d been having such a good week, she decided to go out and do a little shopping. She got some new clothes to wear for when the weather got warmer and for when she went back to Virginia to visit her parents, though she was thinking of staying in Boston to keep working at the bar if her uncles couldn’t let her work at their garage this summer. She was trying to save up money so she would have a little nest egg when she graduated, she wanted to move back to Virginia to be closer to her family and possibly buy a house. Depends on what she felt like doing with her life. She walked down the street heading back to her apartment when something caught her eye. At a little stand on the corner, someone was selling keychains. One keychain, in particular, caught her interest. It looked like the flag of Ireland.

‘I can’t buy this,’ she thought to herself. The boys had been helping her out so much during the week. They even showed up with a couple of newspaper clippings of potential apartments for rent that she and her dad could look at in case the spare room Doc offered was no good.

She couldn’t help it, but she was kinda starting to crush on the boys a little. She knew they weren’t going to take advantage of her. During the week, they had plenty of opportunities to do so and they hadn’t. She couldn’t help, but feel like she could trust them. Plus, they didn’t think her eyes were freaking so that was a bonus in their favor.

She bought the keychain and attached it to the strap to her purse. Her free hand found it’s way to the keychain while she walked home. She couldn’t explain it, but it made her feel like she had the brothers with her and it gave her a sense of peace.

She reached the door to her apartment, unlocked the door, and walked in. She closed and locked the door and dropped her shopping bags and purse onto her couch. She walked to the kitchen to have a pre-work snack before she went to her shift at McGinty’s.

What she wasn’t expecting was someone to suddenly grab her. She started to scream, but a hand shot over her mouth before it could make a sound.

“Now, now,” the intruder whispered in her ear, “none of that now. Be a good girl and behave for me.”

Is this guy for real? He breaks into her home, grabs her, and covers her mouth, telling her to behave? And he expects that?

In this economy?

Hell no!!!

She dead weights on the guy and when he goes to compensate, she suddenly shoots up and bashes his nose with the back of her head. She, then, stomps the heel of her foot onto his as hard as she could. Her assailant yelped in pain and released her. She quickly moved away to put some space between her and him and turns around to face the intruder.

She couldn’t believe her eyes.

It was Travis.

Fucking Travis.

That rat bastard.

She reached over to open a kitchen drawer and pulled out a collapsable baton that her father got her. She flicked her wrist and it folded out. She was ready to break this motherfucker’s kneecaps.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing here, Travis,” she snarled.

“Was hoping to improve our relationship,” he grunted, trying t stem the bleeding from his nose.

“You know what,” Katie snapped, “fuck it. Why are you like this?”

“What do you mean,” Travis asked.

“Are you kidding me right now,” she snapped back, “since we’ve met, all you’ve done is stalk me. You’ve found every place I’ve lived at, including here. You have broken into my place twice as far as I know. You’ve tried to get me alone with you despite being very clear that I was not into you and you’ve now assaulted me in my own home.”

“Technically,” he said, voice nasally as he held his bleeding nose closed, “I think what you did counts as assault.”

“Stop diverting from the topic you, douche-bag!”

“I want you to be mine.”

What?

“Be yours. Are you kidding me? I already told you I wasn’t interested. Not to mention, I was 16 and you were 20 when you asked. You would have been dating a minor.”

“We didn’t have to do the sex stuff until you turned 18-“

“That doesn’t fucking matter. I’m not interested. I came to Boston for school. Not to hookup with mouth-breathing fucktards who can’t take no for an answer like YOU!!!”

Katie panted after she yelled that last bit, her face red and her body quaking in anger. Her glare was lethal and her knuckles were white with how tight she clenched them. Travis was quiet and his eyes had gone cold. There was malice in them. She needed to get away from him.

‘If I can just get to my bathroom,’ she thought, ‘I could call Murphy and Connor for help.’

“Get out of my home,” Katie said, slowly.

“Or what,” Travis snarled, no longer holding his nose closed.

“Or you won’t be walking out of here under your own power,” she growled back.

She reaches her free hand behind her and grabs a vase that her Nana had given her as a housewarming gift for her first apartment and with a mental apology to her Nana, she threw the vase as hard as she could at Travis and ran back to the living room. She heard him swear and the vase shatter against the wall behind him. She could hear him running after her, but she didn’t think twice as she jumped up on her coffee table and ran the two steps across it, and took a sharp turn that caused Travis to curse as he tripped overcorrecting himself and fell to the floor. She used that to her advantage to run straight into her bathroom and slam the door closed. She locked it and grabbed the little cabinet that her mother bought her and shoved it against the door to put more weight against it in case the lock broke from Travis’ banging.

Never had she been so relieved to have a phone in her bathroom. She is so happy that this was a trend that existed in this society. She dials the number that she forced herself to memorize when she received it.

As it rang, Travis started yelling at her.

“Come on, bitch,” he snarled, “you can’t hide in there forever. Nobody is coming for you.”

She ignored him and just listened through to the phone ring, silently begging the boys to pick up.

They did.

“Hello,” came Murphy’s sleepy answer, he probably was napping his shift off to prep for a night at the pub later.

“Murph, it’s me,” Katie cried into the phone, “Travis is here. He was in my home when I got back. He tried to grab me, but I managed to lock myself into the bathroom. Please help me!”

Nothing like someone being in genuine danger to wake a man up, “hang on,” he replied, “Connor and I are on our way. You need to hang up with me and call the cops. NOW.”

“Okay,” she said, voice becoming shaky as what was happening to her was finally registering in her brain, “please hurry, Murph.”

“I’ll be there soon, Aingeal.”

With that, he had to hang up, but she didn’t let that deter her. It didn’t stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. Katie hung up the phone, then picked it up again to dial in those oh so three important digits.

“911,” the operator answer, “what’s your emergency?”

“A man I go to school with broke into my apartment and tried to attack me,” she cried to the operator, wiping some of the fallen tears from her face, “I managed to lock myself in the bathroom and blocked the door with a cabinet, but he’s trying to break the door down.”

Travis’s banging and shouting use of profanity could be heard through the phone to the operator. Several times it looked like he was successful, but that little lock her father installed when she first moved in was holding. At this point, it has to be doing this out of spite because Katie felt like it should’ve broken already.

“What’s your address, ma’am,” the operator asked, calmly.

She gave it to the operator as clearly she could over the racket. She screamed at a particularly loud bang and couldn’t stifle her crying.

“Ma’am, I’ve informed the police and they are on their way,” the operator tried to comfort Katie, “you are doing well, sweetie. Just hold out for a couple of minutes. Okay?”

“I called a friend of mine,” Katie admitted, “I told him that he was here and he and his brother are on their way too.”

“Okay,” the operator said, “I’ll make sure that the police know. Can you describe your assailant?”

“I could give you better,” she responded, “I know the asshole’s name. It’s Travis Hernon. His brown hair and green eyes. He’s a fraternity brother, though I never bothered to learn which one and he’s a grade a douche. He’s been stalking me for over a year. I’ve moved three times because this guy kept finding out where I lived. Can’t get a restraining order because I’m a minor. I just want him to leave me alone.”

Katie cried harder at the final statement. She came to Boston for school, not to get harassed by this prick.

The operator kept talking to the poor girl through the phone. At some point, the banging stopped, but Katie didn’t dare leave the safety of the bathroom. She waited. Soon she heard more voices.

“Ma’am,” the operator said, “I just want to let you know that the police arrived at your building. They should be at your apartment soon.”

“Yeah,” the frightened girl responded, “I think I hear them.”

“Stay in the bathroom until you hear them identify themselves,” the operator commanded.

Katie stayed silent, keeping the phone pressed against her ear, silently hoping that it was the police or the brothers. She didn’t care if it was her crabby neighbor across the hall that said that her hair made her look like a lesbian. She’ll take anyone that isn’t Travis.

A knock on the door startled her.

“This is the police,” came an unfamiliar voice, “are you alright, ma’am?”

Katie breathed out a sigh of relief and yelled out to the officer that she was okay. She thanked the operator for staying on the phone with her and hung up. She moved the cabinet and left the bathroom. There before her was an officer who looked to be around his mid-twenties.

“I’m Officer Seamus,” the officer introduced himself, he pointed at a man who was walking over towards them from the kitchen, “this is my partner, Officer Smith. Are you hurt?”

Katie shook her head, “no, I wasn’t hurt. I was able to get into the bathroom before he could do anything.”

“We only ask because we saw that there is blood on your floor,” Officer Seamus pointed out, Katie’s eyes widening in realization.

“My assailant grabbed me from behind,” she explained, “I hit the back of my head. It busted his nose up a bit. There was a lot of blood.”

Smith nodded, approvingly, “sounds like you broke the sonuvabitch’s nose.”

The officers took her statement. More officers and a CS unit arrived with paramedics. The EMT checked her over and made sure she didn’t accidentally give herself a concussion when she bashed her head against Travis’s. She didn’t thankfully. Pictures were taken and samples of Travis’s blood was taken as evidence. Soon, they heard someone yelling for Katie.

“Are you expecting company,” asked Seamus, hand hovering over his pistol. The other officers tensing and waiting for confirmation.

“Yes,” she answered, “I called them first and told them what was happening. They knew about Travis. They were helping me stay away from him.”

The brothers burst into the apartment and both sighed in relief at the sight of their friend safe and sound. Murphy leaned against the wall and Connor leaned over to place his hands on his knees. Both were out of breath and panting hard. Well, it sounded more like wheezing at this point.

“Thank God, you’re okay,” Murphy managed to force out in between his wheezing gasps of air.

“Why are you so out of breath,” Katie asked confused, “you run up those stair s before and they’ve never worn you tow out like that. Wasn’t Rocco supposed to be hanging out with you at your apartment before you went to the pub?”

“His mom needed to go to the hospital,” Connor gasped out, “He was going to meet up with us later.”

“When you called all scared,” Murphy continued, “We ran all the way here.”

Everyone looked at them in shock.

“You ran over 20 blocks,” Katie said, “and six flights of stairs. How are you still on your feet?”

“Luck of the Irish,” Connor sassed.

“And whiskey in our veins,” Murphy finished.

Katie couldn’t help herself. She started giggling, which evolved into almost hysterical laughing with some crying mixed in. After everything she went through, it was just too much. Sensing what she needed, Murphy pushed himself off the wall and pulled her into his arms. Katie latches her arms around his waist and bawls into his chest. Murphy rubs her back and whispers comforting words in her ear. He looks at the officers and an approaching EMT.

“It’s okay,” he says over her crying, “I’ve got her.”

The EMT nodded and motions to the girl in his arms, “she’s most likely going into shock,” he informed the brothers.

Connor straightens up and walks to her couch and pulls off the throw blanket and walks over to his brother. Murphy takes the blanket from his brother and manages to pry the crying girl’s arms off his waist so he could wrap her in the blanket then pulls her back into his embrace. After another minute, her crying turns into sniffling and the occasional hiccuping. 

She pulls back and looks up at Murphy guiltily, “sorry, Murph,” she whimpered, “I think I got snot and tears all over your coat.”

“Don’t apologize, sweet girl,” Murphy answers pulling her close again, “I’d take your snot and tears any day if it meant that you’re still alive.”

“Geez, Murph,” I said, with a watery laugh, “have you been watching the Hallmark channel again? That was so cheesy.”

Murphy rolled his eyes and Connor laughed at him. “Yeah, Murph,” Connor teased, “you watching them chick flicks again?”

Murphy, without releasing Katie, shot an arm out to swipe at his brother, “you two are ridiculous. Don’ know how I put up ya both.”

Connor sobers up and looks at the girl. “What do you want to do now, Katie,” he asked, nodding his over to the police, “the police should be done getting what they need. They take your statement yet,” she nodded, “good, do you want to stay here when they leave?”

“No,” she said, “what if he comes back?”

Murphy growls, “he better not if he knows what’s good for ‘im.” He looks at me, “pack a bag. Do you want to come to stay with us or a hotel?”

“Your place,” she answers softly, “I don’t want to be alone if he follows me from here.”

“Okay,” Connor says, he motions to the direction of her bedroom, “go do as Murphy says and pack a bag. Murph’ll go with ya. I’ll call your parents and tell them what happened and what you wanted to do. We’ll make sure that your parents have our phone number and address, in case they need to get ahold of ya.”

Murphy gently leads her to her room and before long, she has at least two weeks’ worth of clothes and her personal hygiene products packed and ready to go. The police had finished up and bade the three farewell. They also told Katie that she might have to come to the station later in the week to speak with one of the detectives that will be assigned her case to answer any of their questions. Connor was still on the phone with her parents.

“Yes, sir,” Connor said, “that number is correct. So’s the address. I’ll have her call you as soon as we reach our place. She doesn’t feel safe here and she doesn’t want to be alone.” He notices that she had finished packing, “if you want, you can talk to her as well. She just finished packing her bag,” he offers, waving the girl over to him. “Here she is, sir,” Connor says, before handing the exhausted girl the phone.

“Hi, Daddy,” Katie greeted, her voice hoarse from her crying, “Connor told you what happen?”

“Hi, sweetie,” came the relieved voice of her father, “yes, that he told me. Are you okay? Were you hurt?”

“No, sir, I managed to lock myself in my bathroom,” she replied, “but I broke his nose. There’s blood all over my dining floor. The police took a sample for evidence. His fingerprints were all over the place too.”

“Atta girl,” her father praised, “are you pressing charges?”

“Fuck yes,” she said, “gonna throw an entire library’s worth of books at him like I threw that vase that Nana got me. It’s all broken on my floor.” She was kind of loopy from the shock at this point.

Her father chuckled, “I think she won’t mind you using it as a weapon to defend yourself. Honestly, I think it’s the whole reason she got it for you since it’s so easy to grab.”

“It really was. It went ‘whoosh’ when I threw it and it apparently scratched the wall when it shattered against it. Don’t think I’m gonna get my security deposit back now,” she rambled, Connor and Murphy snickering at her description.

“Connor also told me that you wanted to go back to their place,” he said, his voice getting serious, “is that what you actually said or is he putting words in your mouth?”

“I chose their place,” she answered, “I don’t feel safe here anymore. I thought I was when I changed the locks like you said and he still got in. And I don’t want to go to a hotel. I don’t want to be alone.”

“Why not go back to Michelle’s,” he asked, “you know she’s willing to let you stay with her until we get you set up in a new apartment.”

“Because he knows where she lives and, Daddy,” she explained, “he was willing to get violent this time.” Her eyes got watery again and her voice got shaky, “When I was hiding in the bathroom, he was banging on the door until a few before the police arrived. He was saying really scary things and kept saying no one was going to come save me this time. I was really scared. I’ve never been scared of guys before because I know how to take defend myself, but his eyes, Daddy.” Tears were spilling down her face again and she hiccuped a bit, “his eyes were really scary this time. Like that man’s when I was a kid.”

In this one conversation, Katie no longer felt like she was 17. She suddenly felt like she was 10 years old again. Sitting in her hospital bed again, trying to explain to the FBI and her parents what happened. What was done to her.

Connor and Murphy froze at that new tidbit of information. This isn’t the first time someone had tried to hurt her. They looked each other and could see exactly what the other thought and nodded.

So long as they were alive and so long as she let’s them, they weren’t going to let anymore harm befall this girl.

They’ll die before that.

Travis was a dead man walking.

“Okay, baby,” her father relented, “But I want you to call me ass soon as you get to their apartment. Let me know you’re safe. My flight is next week, but if you want, I can try to come up sooner. I’ll stay with Michelle. I’ll drive there tonight and be there tomorrow morning.”

“No, you bought the plane ticket already,” she said, “I don’t want you to waste that money.”

“I can always try to see if they’ll refund it if you’r worried,” he said, “but money is material. You aren’t. I can always make more money, I can’t get another you.”

Her lip quivered and she whimpered pitifully, “Daddy, I need you.”

“Done,” he said, “I’ll pack a bag and head out as soon as you call me when you get to their place. Your mother will use my ticket and come up next week. I’ll give Michelle a heads up and see if she can let me crash on her couch too. Put Connor back on the phone and drink some water. I love you, sweetie.”

“I love you too, Daddy,” she whispered, she looks over at the boys and holds the phone to Connor, “he wants to talk to you.”

Connor nodded and took the phone back, “yes, sir,” he said into the phone.

Katie walked into her kitchen and headed towards her fridge. She opens it and grabs a bottle of water and drinks some like her father requested. The cold water helping to calm her down. She looks over back at Connor and sees how he’s three shades paler than normal. Her father was giving him the shovel talk, she could tell. Her father hadn’t even spoken to Murphy yet and he looks terrified.

“Yes, sir,” Connor answered, meekly, to whatever he was asked, “yes. Yes. I understand. You have a good evening as well. Drive safely. We’ll see if our friend Rocco will lend us his car so we can pick you up from your friend’s place. We don’t have much parking where we live. Yes, sir, I’ll be by the phone waiting for your call in the morning. Bye.” Connor finally hung up and looked at her. “You’re father is the most terrifying man I’ve ever spoken to and I haven’t even physically met him yet.”

“It’s cuz he’s army,” she responded, numbly, she hasn’t felt this exhausted in a long while, “I’m also his youngest AND I’m his only daughter. So he’ll fight God himself and win if he fucks with me.”

“I believe it,” was the Irishman’s response, “ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she answered, “was waiting for Dad to finish giving you the shovel talk.”

He huffs and offers his arm to her. They escort her out, stopping long enough to let her lock door. They left the building and flagged a cab, taking it back to their apartment. Since there was no emergency, the brothers didn’t have to run 20+ blocks back. When they finally got back to their loft apartment, Connor gave Katie their phone and told her to call her dad before he gains the ability to teleport and murders him. She did and her father told her he was finished packing and he called his CO to let him know of his family emergency and that he would be leaving tonight for Boston. His CO said he’ll take care of the paperwork and that he wished me well.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning okay,” he said, “I’m gonna try and drive a few hours, stop and get some sleep and then finish the rest in the morning. Should be there before lunch if traffic is permitting.”

“With your luck,” she joked, “you’ll probably drive all night without realizing it.”

“I just might if traffic stays super light,” he chuckles, “you know how I am when I drive my Mustang.”

“Faster than the speed of light,” she tells him.

She bids him farewell and really looks at the brothers’ apartment. It was a loft and looked very rundown. Two twin sized mattresses lied on the floor. An old couch and even older TV was on her immediate right, with a small table and two chairs behind the TV, then the beds. On her left was the kitchen area. Fridge, stove, some counter space and a sink. No dishwasher, which was fine, the boys ate out mostly. A large trashcan sat by the front door next to her and was half full, but had a faint odor that hadn’t spread the the rest of the apartment yet. She made a mental note to take out the trash for them since they were letting her crash here. Contribute to keeping the place clean and help pay for food. At the end of the kitchen was a four drawer dresser. She also noticed a pair of rosaries hanging on the wall right beside the door. She was so out of it, that she hadn’t even noticed the boys putting them there. At the end of the apartment was what looked to be the bathroom area. It kinda gave off locker room feels with how open it was. A raised lip at the edge to keep water from spilling into the rest of the apartment. Two shower head poking out of the walls and an exposed toilet that looks like it had seen better days or could at least use a decent cleaning. Holy shit, Katie didn’t think toilets could look like that.

Connor seemed to notice her staring at toilet, “it looked like that when we moved in too. We tried to bleach it, but it only made it lighter. We try to do that once a month to remind it that we are the masters of the house, but I think we’re losin’ the war.”

She flinched. She didn’t mean to stare.

“Sorry,” she said, “I don’t want to come off as rude or ungrateful since you’re letting me crash here for a while.”

They laughed, “it’s fine,” Murphy added, “we know our place is a bit of a dump, but since rent is like super cheap, we just enjoy having a roof over our heads.”

“Plus you’re within walking distance of McGinty’s,” she threw in playfully.

“Now you getting’ the picture,” Connor said with a wink. He motioned to the beds, “you’ll be taking my bed. I’ll be on the couch. If for some reason Travis shows up here, Murph and I will take care of him.”

Katie shook her head, “Connor I can’ take your bed. Give me the couch.”

“Too late,” Connor said, already plopping down on the couch and throwing a spare blanket over himself, “guess you’ll have to take the bed now.”

Katie rolled her eyes at the man’s antics and set her bag by the foot of his bed. She grabbed her toothbrush and went to brush her teeth. When she was finished, she grabbed a tank top and some sweats and looked around he room, realizing her issue.

The boys noticing her dilemma told her they’ll cover their eyes and wait till she tells them she’s ready. Placing on their hands over their face, they didn’t move until the girl had changed. When she gave confirmation that she was finished changing did they remove their hands.

“We’ll set something up to give you privacy if you end up staying here longer,” Murphy told the poor girl.

Before long, she was tucked away in Connor’s bed and as soon as her head his pillow the exhaustion form the terrible day she’d just had hit her. It wasn’t before long that she slipped away in the comforting embrace of the Sandman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! More drama. Hope you enjoyed!! See you in the next chapter!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. Hope you enjoy!!!

Katie woke up slowly. She felt warm and safe, something she hadn’t really felt since Travis came into her life. She could smell food, bacon and coffee being very prominent, and heard the quiet voices of men conversing and trying to keep their voices low so as to not wake the sleeping girl.

She gave a soft groan and stretched. She rubbed her hand over her face, focusing in on rubbing the sleep from her eyes and yawned. She sat up, wrapping the warm blanket around her shoulders so as to not be left exposed to the cold and looked around. Turning her head left, she noticed that both brothers were awake, Rocco was here as well, and…

“Dad,” she croaked out, “when did you get here?”

Her father’s brown hair was a mess, he hadn’t brushed it since yesterday and his clothes were wrinkled, like he slept in them. His hazel eyes were a bit red and had faint traces of bags under his eyes. He hadn’t gotten much sleep during his trip up.

And despite being 39 years old, in this single moment, Drake Halestrom felt like he was older. He was 6’ and the occasional nervous looks the boys shot over to him gave Katie the insight that her father has not been very nice to with them, which was about as nice as she could put it.

“Not long,” he answered, taking a sip of coffee, “we just got here with breakfast from a diner down the block.” He gestures to the table, “got you the works for when you woke up.”

Katie’s stomach decided that this was the appropriate time to make itself known. The boys snickered and she threw the pillow at them, hitting Connor in the back. She forced herself up and walked over to the sink to rinse her face and brush her teeth. Pulling off the hair tie that she wore from her wrist, she pulled her hair up in a messy bun as she walked over back to the men at the table. Rocco got up and met her halfway. He pulled her into a tight hug, one she reciprocated.

“How you feeling, hun,” he asked, when he pulled away and checked her over for injuries, “Connor said you were okay, but you weren’t hurt, right?” His eyes were filled with worry. He wished that he had come over to the boys place like originally planned. Instead, he decided to take a nap at his place before going to McGinty’s with the boys.

She shook her head, “no, but I hurt him. Broke his nose. Guess he also didn’t expect me to dead weight on him,” she explained.

“Good,” Rocco said, kissing her forehead, “take my seat, eat some breakfast and drink some coffee.”

As she went over and her father had gotten up as well and pulled her into a tight hug of his own. She latched onto him like he was her lifeline.

“Hey, sweetie,” her father whispered, “I’ve got you. You’re okay. Did you sleep okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, pulling away. Her father pulled a chair out for her, “ just really hungry now.”

“I can imagine,” her father said, smiling softly, “eat up.”

The takeout boxes were open and there before her were scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, a stack of pancakes, and some biscuits. Her father handed her a paper plate and she went about piling food on her plate. She took a bit of everything, the others doing the same, and they all ate in silence. Enjoying the good food, coffee, and the comfort that the men provided Katie in the moment.

“How long I’ve been sleeping,” Katie asked.

“Almost 12 hours,” Connor responded, “It’s almost the afternoon.”

She hummed quietly to herself and frowned. She hadn’t meant to sleep that long.

Drake turned to her daughter, “Katie, can you tell me exactly what happened with Travis,” her father asked, “Connor only said that Travis broke into your home while you were out and attacked you. Was there anything else?”

“Found out why he’s been bugging me,” she admitted, “he said he ‘wanted to make me his’,” she dropped her voice to a lower octave to mock Travis’s words, “when we first met, he asked me out, but I was 15 and he was 19. I’m a minor and, honestly, I wasn’t even interested. I turned him down back then and made the mistake of suggesting that we be friends instead. Apparently, that just gave him the excuse to creep on me like he has. I guess he got tired of waiting on me to finally return his feelings because he was at my place when I got back from shopping. I told him that I came to Boston to school, not to deal with pathetic mouth breathers who can’t take no for a damn answer.” She went quiet and looked at her lap nervously, “that’s when he got really scary. I think he finally snapped.” She looked at her father with scared eyes, “I don’t know what to do now. At least when he was just stalking, all I had to do was get good at disappearing. I’d give twenty bucks to one of his frat brothers to find out his class schedule each semester and I purposefully have mine set up so there isn’t a way to run into each other unless he wants to skip class. Then, I make sure that my last class ends right when one of his started so I could leave campus. Maybe even grab some food to go from the food court if the lines are short.”

Her father turned his head away from her. He kept his expression neutral but the anger in his eyes was prominent and he didn’t want to scare her. The boys were pretty pissed at hearing about how this girl is trying to live her life and this jerk at her school is making her jump through loops just to enjoy it. They’ve had many an afternoons listening to her tell them all the things she learned and the excitement that lights up her eyes was addictive for them. They enjoyed listening to her geek out.

“Well,” her father started, “first order of business is to get you moved to a new location. You told me that your boss has a spare room that could work as a loft apartment, correct?”

“Yeah,” she answered, “he told me that it used to be a speakeasy in the 40s, so it has some pretty cool history to go with it and access to the fire escape in case of emergencies.”

Drake nodded his head in thought.

He looked at his daughter and smirked, “you know your brothers almost came along as well.”

Katie stopped, a piece of bacon held between her teeth, and grimaced. The other three men looked between the father and daughter confused. Katie didn’t say she had brothers. She looked at her father suspiciously.

“Are they coming up with mom or are they driving themselves here,” she asked, hesitantly.

“Driving separately,” her father responded, “but not until next week. They don’t think they’ll be able to get their shifts at work covered soon enough to come earlier. But by then we should have found a new apartment and they’ll be able to help with moving. They’re taking the my truck. So that will make moving you easier.”

“I’ve got a friend who has a truck too,” Rocco added, “two trucks will make moving her out of that apartment to her new one easier.”

The older man nodded his head in thanks.

“What’s so bad about your brothers,” Connor asked.

“Nothing really,” the rainbow haired girl offered, “they just like to pick on me a lot. And they can be a bit much sometimes.”

That just confused them more. Her father rolled his eyes, “you’ll see when they get here,” was all he offered to them.

They went back to enjoying their food, but Drake just focused on his coffee. He didn’t drink any though. He just stared, lost in thought.

“You know,” he said, catching Katie’s attention again, “you could just come home.” Katie froze at the idea. She frowned, anger rising.

“No,” was her firm reply. Her multicolored eyes zeroed in on her father’s hazel. Determination and fury in them.

“Katie,” her father said, “I get that you wanted to by independent and come here, but-“

“No,” she repeated.

“Why?”

“Because I’m not gonna run just because things got scary,” she answered, “running isn’t gonna solve a damn thing. There are probably thousands of douchebags like Travis, all with various levels of douchebaggery. I’m gonna be dealing with idiots like him for the rest of my life. What if I have a job that has another guy like Travis? Am I going to have to quit that job and find a different one just because? What about when I was ten?”

“Katie, this is different,” her father replied.

“How’s that any different,” she said, “some asshole tried to hurt me for one reason or another. The only difference is I didn’t have to go to the hospital this time. This time around is that I wasn’t a kid and was physically strong enough to kick my attacker’s ass. This time I was able to dish out some pain and got away with nary a scratch.”

Her father tried again, “I just want you to be safe. This time you didn’t get hurt. But if the police don’t catch him in time, he’s gonna try to finish what he started.”

“I know, Dad,” she reassured, “and I hear what your saying, but if he does try again, what does it matter where I am? He’s shown to have serious obsessive behavior. It’s not gonna matter where he gets me. If I leave Boston, the asshole will just follow me to where ever I go. I don’t want him following me to Virginia. What if he shows up at one of our family gatherings? We have kids at those.”

Her father looked away, frustrated. She reached over and placed a hand on his arm.

“I’m sorry that I got myself in this mess,” she apologized, “but I’m not running. I’m not prideful enough to deny that he doesn’t scare me, but I refuse to let that fear dictate the rest of my life. If, no, when he comes for me, I’ll be ready this time. He’s gonna regret fucking with me.”

Drake shot her a scolding look at her language, but nodded his consent, “fine. Since I can’t seem to change your mind, I’ll let you stay in Boston.” He held a finger up at her, “but you need to be careful. He’s more dangerous now, especially since the cops are after him. He’s gonna be on the run now and he’s probably gonna try to blame you for his problems.” He lowered his finger and placed his hand on her shoulder, “but let me get one thing clear,” he leaned closer to her, “this is NOT YOUR FAULT.” He stressed the last three words, “he made his choice to be like this. HE decided to stalk you. HE decided to break into your apartments. HE decided to assault you. You didn’t make him to do anything. You are not at fault for the situation you are in. If anyone deserves an apology. it’s you. That little shit should drop to his knees and beg your forgiveness for what he’s put you through.”

Katie’s eyes started getting all watery from the tears building up and she couldn’t help the rapid blinking and wiped away the tears that spilled.

Murphy leaned across the table to offer her a clean napkin to wipe her face with, “we can walk over to the pub now, if we want. It’s not open till late this afternoon, but Doc does inventory around this time of the month, so he should be there.” He looks at Drake, “we can introduce you to him. He’s well aware of her issues with Travis. He showed up last week on Saint Paddies. It’s why he offered the spare room above the pub.”

At that, Katie finished her breakfast, got up and took her plate to the sink. She looked over at the men and said that they are gonna have to cover their eyes so she could get dressed. They do so and she grabs some of her clothes. She puts on a pair of fitted jeans with holes on my knees, a black cropped tank, and a purple plaid shirt that had the sleeves rolled up and the front tied loosely. After letting the other occupants in the room know that she was finished changing, she grabber her black combat boots and tied them on. She gave her hair a quick brushing to work out the knots that formed over night and then threw it back up in a messy bun. When she packed her bag, she hadn’t bothered to grab any of her jewelry, so she couldn’t accessorize, but she didn’t care much about that. It was more for her mom than her.

They left the loft and walked to the pub to meet with Doc. Just like Murphy said, the sweet old man was there doing inventory and was more than happy to have the lot of them come in. When he was told what had happened overnight, he pulled the girl into his arms and said the offer for the spare room was still on the table.

He led them up the stairs and opened a door.

“T-t-t-t-t-t-this is the r-r-r-r-room I told ye ab-b-b-b-bout,” Doc explained, leading them into the room, “FUCK! ASS!” He motioned around, “h-h-h-h-had it re-e-e-e-enovated a few years a-a-a-ago.” Apparently, he planned to rent it out, but ended up using it for storage when the pub got really popular.

Katie looked at the room. It was actually a decent sized room. It was a loft apartment. The kitchen had a full sized fridge, stove, and, holy shit, a dishwasher? There were two doors to one side, one leading to a full bathroom and the other to a walk-in closet. The room was cluttered with boxes of alcohol and other miscellaneous items Doc had. He said that he could have the boys move the items to the basement and the place cleaned up before she moved in.

Her father and him stepped off so they could discuss a price for rent. Doc was willing to let her live there for free, but Drake knew that Katie wouldn’t like that since it would make her feel like she was taking advantage of the old man. Eventually, they settled on a low price that Drake finally got Doc to agree.

Once a price was settle, Drake grabbed the boys and told them that they were gonna get to work on clearing out the room. Her father told her to borrow Doc’s phone so she could call home and tell her mother that they found her a place. Her eldest brother, Dean, had answered the phone instead their mother. He expressed relief that she would have a new place and said that he and Sam would be up there by tomorrow evening.

“Thought you weren’t coming up till next week,” she asked. She’d never admit it him, but she was relieved to hear that her brothers would be here sooner. Despite how much they liked to mess with her, she always felt safe with them.

“Yeah, but after last night, we spent the day haggling with our bosses and reaching out to our coworkers to see who was willing to cover our shifts while we’re gone,” her eldest brother explained, “Mom is coming too. She managed to get a refund on the plane ticket and is riding up with us.”

“Okay,” she said, “I gotta go help Dad and the others, but I’ll see you tomorrow night. Love you.”

“Love you too, little sister,” her brother replied, “keep your head up. Sammy and I’ll be there real soon. If that son of a bitch shows up, we’ll make him regret being born.” He always did know what to say to make her feel better.

Truth be told, Dean had been wanting to move up to Boston to look after her since it started. She’d talk him down each time, telling him that she could handle the prick. Now he wished that he ignored her protests and moved up anyway. He’ll try to bring up the topic again over her summer break, but only if the prick hadn’t stuck his head out of whatever little hole he hid in after they move her.

They gave their goodbyes and Katie hung the phone up. She headed up to the room to see her father and the boys organizing Doc’s stuff so he would know what was in the basement. She told them what she spoke about with Dean. Drake nodded and had her come help them organize.

“We aren’t going to do much here today since it’s getting late,” he told her, “we’re going to organize everything and then, when Mom and your brothers get here, we’ll move everything to the basement for Doc. Tomorrow, we’ll get you boxes and inform your landlord that you are moving out. I’ll also take a look at the wall where the vase hit and check for any damage. If there is, I’ll take care of it, but I don’t think there will be. We’ll clean your place up and take care of the food there. Try using it up or maybe seeing if any of your friends want it. When we get you moved into here, your mom will take you grocery shopping.”

The two shared a knowing, mischievous look. Nothing like getting your mom to buy you groceries. Drake looks over at Rocco and the brothers.

“You three good to help out with helping us with the move,” he offered, “I’m willing to pay you in pizza and beer if you do.”

Katie, who had moved away to pack up a box, interjected, “if it’s beer, make sure it’s Guinness. They only drink Irish brews,” she looks back at her father, “so I don’t think they’ll accept Coronas with lime as an acceptable payment.”

“I’ll have theirs if they don’t want them,” Rocco joked, Connor and Murphy jabbing him with their elbows. He had made the mistake of standing between the two.

“We’ll be happy to help,” Connor said. Murphy nodded his head in agreement.

The next few days went by as a blur. Katie still stayed with Connor and Murphy at their place. It was the only place that she really felt safe. It was a good call to since Michelle, the family friend that Drake was staying with, caught sight Travis in the alley behind her townhouse. This had happened the same moment that Katie’s mother and brothers had arrived. At the mention of Travis, Dean and Sam took off to the alley to try and catch Travis, but by the time they got out to it, he was gone.

Her mother had called up the MacManus home and told the three what had happened. Katie almost didn’t want to go over like planned in fear that Travis might still be hiding nearby. So, Conor gently took the phone from her and suggested to her mother that maybe instead of meeting up for dinner there, they all go out. He gave the name of a good Italian restaurant that Rocco had taken the brothers and Katie to. Good food and decent prices, he’d told the older woman.

Meeting her brothers, Connor and Murphy saw why she was hesitant to see them.

They loved picking on her. Of course, the first thing they did was pull her into a hug and ask her if she was alright. After that, they proceeded to tease her about her height. With Dean standing at 6’1” and Sam at 6’4”, Katie’s measly 5’5” easily made her the shortest of her family. Hell, she was the shortest in her family. Her father being 6’0” and her mother at 5’10”. It was pretty comical to the her friends watching Sam rest his arm on top of her head because she was at the perfect height for him to do so.

When Rocco did the same, Katie shot him a devastated look at his betrayal. The brothers, MacManus and Halestrom, just about choked on their drinks from laughing so hard.

The rest of the week was, thankfully, uneventful. The spare room was emptied and her mother thoroughly cleaned it. Her stuff was packed up and moved from her old apartment to her new place.

Doc had become her mother’s best friend and she absolutely adored the brothers and Rocco. One night, Katie had caught her mother, Rocco, and the MacManus brothers going shot for shot one night while she was working. Her mother drank the three under the table and then needed her husband to help her up the stairs to Katie’s new place. Doc lent them some cots that he would use on the rare occasion customers got too crazy.

By the start of the next week, Katie had successfully moved into her new place and like her father promised, her mother took her grocery shopping. The food from her old place had been eaten up by the men helping move her and whatever was left, she gave to Connor and Murphy. They knew how to cook, it was just cheaper to eat out as often as they did.

Soon her family packed up and left Katie in her new place. Connor and Murphy got take out from their favorite Chinese place a few blocks away. They sat at her dining table with Rocco and feasted on Chinese and watched _The Outlaw Josey Wales_. Connor just about fainted in delight when Katie admitted to being a Clint Eastwood fan. He was even more thrilled when he went through her movie collection and found that she had an impressive collection of movies, _Jurassic Park, Jaws, Die Hard_ (all three) _, Indiana Jones_ (all three as well), all the _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_ movies (her Nana is a die hard Trekkie fan and was adamant that her granddaughter have a copy of their movies too. Not that Katie was complaining, since she like them too), a few Charlie Bronson films, and many others.

Connor and Murphy demanded that they have a movie marathon. Rocco stayed for two films, then had to leave.

“Got some runs that I have to make in the morning and I can’t be late for them,” was his only explanation.

The brothers and Katie kept watching and having a good time. Before long, the Irishmen ended up passed out on her couches. The time was 3 am and Katie was the only awake. She quietly cleaned up all the beer and soda cans, depositing them into the trash with the empty Chinese take out boxes to be taken to the dumpster tomorrow. She managed to take off their shoes and get a blanket thrown over each of them without either of them waking up. She also placed a bottle of water on the side tables next to them.

When she was satisfied, she couldn’t help sitting on the arm of couch that Murphy was passed out on and watch them sleep for a bit.

She couldn’t believe she was so lucky to have them in her life. In the dim light provided by the TV, she caught sight of her purse on a table by the front door and spied the little Irish flag keychain she had bought.

‘Luck of the Irish indeed,’ she joked to herself.

She got up and went over to her bed and crashed onto it. Exhaustion from the past week hitting her bone deep, sleep greeting her like an old friend.

‘Whatever happens,’ she thought to herself as she felt herself getting more and more sleepy, ‘let me go through it with Connor and Murphy.’

For the first time in a long while, she felt safe in her own space again and fell asleep without any worries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo, I almost forgot to post it today. Yes, I named her older brother’s after the Sam and Dean Winchester from Supernatural. Loved the show, hated the ending. Cas deserved better. Don’t really care for Destiel, but I would not have been surprised if it had become Canon. I thought they would have been cute together.
> 
> Believe it or not, I’m actually in the middle of writing Chapter 6 and lemme just tell ya:
> 
> It. Is. Nothing. But. SMUT.
> 
> First time writing smut, so when I finally post it, please be nice. I kept finding myself looking up smutty fanfics to try and write it right. I think I’m doing good so far. I’m actually having a bit of fun writing it.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter. I’ll post the next one next week on Friday again.
> 
> Please stay safe as apparently 2021 did NOT get the memo it was supposed to be better than 2020.
> 
> See you all next week!! Love you lots!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing too crazy this chapter. Bit more on the fluffy side.

Time rolled by faster than Katie expected. Since moving into her apartment, things started to move easier. Having the boys around made her feel safer than she’s been in a while.

No, that’s wrong. Not the boys. **_Her_** boys.

She isn’t sure when she started calling them her boys, but to her, it felt right.

When finals rolled around at the end of April, the boys helped her study. They made sure that she had plenty of drinks and snacks. They would sometimes grab her study guides and quiz her on the material. Sometimes, it would lead to her basically teaching them the material. A for effort and they at least learned something new. They made sure she didn’t over-study as well and that she got some damn sleep.

Of course, she passed with flying colors. Usually she would barely pass because of all the stress keeping an eye out for Travis caused. Guess it goes to show how well she does with her classes without having to worry about him.

News ended up traveling around campus at what Travis had done as well. Katie figured it was bound to happen eventually since the police had shown up to look for him. Of course, it caused a bit of discourse amongst the student body. Some believing that Travis was a bad guy and others believing that Katie was lying. She didn’t care. She knew the truth and she had people who backed her. She didn’t need anyone else’s support.

Didn’t mean that some people went out of their way to harass her. Travis is a pretty charismatic guy and a good liar it would seem.

The semester ended without too much drama and summer break went by with ease. She would take summer courses to knock off more of her classes. When she wasn’t working or studying, she was hanging out with her boys. Rocco had a more flexible schedule to, so he often took her out to really see Boston.

When Connor and Murphy had time for her, it was practically the best moments of her life. There was hardly a boring day. Even when they didn’t go out and do anything, it was still fun. She especially found it funny when the boys would bicker and fight with each other over some argument they had.

Summer break would eventually end and the fall semester picked up in August with a full schedule and Katie had a good feeling. The boys had been taking her to class the previous semester and were planning on doing the same for this one. There was still no sign of Travis and, while it did worry her a bit, she was happy that she could finally look forward to going to her classes and actually enjoy the campus.

She was also excited because in 2 months she would be 18. Even better that it was on Halloween. Her mom used help her come up with the coolest parties and would always be super spooky looking just like the girl wanted. It didn’t happen anymore since she moved to Boston, but she wasn’t too worried about it.

She was at her dining table, textbooks and notebooks open. A box of pizza sitting not too far with a few cans of Dr. Pepper within reach. She was working on her homework, when her door busted open and a certain pair of Irishmen came strutting in. She had given them a copy of her key. She didn’t mind them coming over whenever so long as they occasionally paid for food and clean up any messes they made.

She looked up and greeted them, “Hey, guys,” Katie waved at them, before focusing back on her homework, “make yourselves at home. I’m just finishing up my homework.”

The boys plopped themselves at the table with her and each took a slice of pizza. Connor had grabbed her literature book and started flipping through some of the pages. Murphy doing the same in history textbook.

“So what exactly are you majoring in,” Murphy asked, thumbing onto another page.

“I’m double majoring in linguistics and archaeology with minors in history and mythology,” she replied without looking up from her homework.

The two froze and looked up at her in surprise..

“I took college level courses in high school so I could skip a lot of the general education classes,” she added, “I’m working to get myself a high enough GPA so I can do grad school, maybe at Oxford or Cambridge. Although, I could get a high paying job just with my linguistics major alone. I was already speaking 4 languages by the time I was 5 and I’ve added on since.”

“Aye, we remember,” Connor said, “was just surprised to hear what your majors are.”

“You plannin’ on workin’ in a museum or as a translator,” Murphy asks.

“Bit of both really,” she said, “There are museums I could do work at all over the world and if that can’t get me anywhere, I can offer up my services as a translator or linguistics expert to basically anyone. Companies practically froth at the mouth to get ahold of translators so they can conduct their business with foreign companies better.”

“How do you feel about this semester,” Connor asked, stealing a sip of her soda.

“I feel pretty good. I don’t have Travis to worry about on campus,” Katie said, “and my classes seem pretty easy enough. Kinda hoping I’m proven wrong. Learning new shit isn’t fun if it isn’t challenging.”

They snorted at that, before going back to reading her textbooks.

“I’m also looking forward to my birthday,” she added, “Dad told me that when I turn 18, he’ll get me a handgun to keep in my apartment.”

“You know how to shoot,” Connor asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” she answered, “Dad taught me when I was 8. I also had a pair of uncles who took me hunting. They taught me to hunt with a rifle and with a bow. They’re mechanics too, own their own garage. Dean works there, which is probably why he was able to come up so easily. Sammy is the one who probably had to haggle his way outta work and tell his professors that he was missing class.”

The boys were quiet, before Murphy asked, “say, when is your birthday? You never told us.”

She grinned, “It’s on Halloween. The spooooooookiest time of the year,” she said, dramatically.

Murphy, who had snagged her soda from his brother and was taking a sip himself, snorted. Soda came shooting out of his nose. Connor laughed, while Katie reached for the textbook that Murphy was reading, trying to save it from Murphy.

“Holy shit, gross, Murph,” Katie laughed, checking her book over. Not a drop on it. Sweet.

“Fuck,” he shouted, “it came out me fuckin’ nose.”

Connor just laughed harder and threw a napkin at his brother, “you look like you got rabies.”

“Fuck you,” he groaned, flipping his brother off. He grabbed the napkin and cleaned himself up.

Giving on more snort at his brother, Connor turns back to the rainbow-haired girl, “what are you planning for your birthday,” he asked, taking another bite of pizza.

“I usually have a party with my family and close friends,” she answered, finishing the last of her homework and putting it away, “it’d be Halloween theme too. Then, my friends and I would go to the movies. We’d try to see how much candy and soda we can sneak into the theater. One time, we went and bought like a shit ton of stuff from Taco Bell, shoved everything and sauce packets into our pockets and jackets. Not just tacos, I’m talking burritos, quesadillas, cinnamon twists. One friends managed to sneak in the Mexican pizza that Taco Bell has. We even managed to sneak in our drinks too. It was an absolute blast.”

A wide smile was plastered on her face at the memory, she added, “At least that was before I moved to Boston. When I moved up here, my family would just celebrate my birthday when I come home to visit for Christmas.”

“Is there anything specific that you are hoping to get for your birthday,” Murphy asked.

“A new electric piano,” she admitted, “I used to have one, but Travis destroyed my last one when I lived on campus. I’ve always wanted a new one, but I was worried that if I got a new one, he’d destroy it too.”

“How has this guy not been dealt with sooner,” Connor asked, incredulously, “every time you talk about something, it some how goes back to him. How was he able to get away with this for so long?”

“Insufficient evidence according to the police,” she deadpanned, “he’s good at covering his tracks in case you haven’t noticed. The only reason anything was done now was because he finally got violent. The first time he broke into my first apartment, he wore gloves. This made it so he wouldn’t leave behind fingerprints. This last incident I broke his nose and he bled on my floor. He got sloppy this time.”

“Still frustrating that the police have yet to catch him,” the brother grumbled.

“It’s only a matter of time,” was all she said.

She stood up and stretched. She grabbed the empty soda cans and moved over to where her trash bin was and deposited the cans there. Murphy grabbed the pizza box and brought it over to the kitchen for her. Katie wrapped the two remaining slices in some aluminum foil and placed them in the fridge for her to eat later. Connor closed her textbooks and neatly stacked them on the table.

Murphy nudged Katie, “you know,” Murphy said, “we can always take you out for some fun on your birthday.”

“What did you have in mind,” Katie asked, arching an eyebrow.

Connor jumped in, “a day AND night on the town. Catch a movie or a play or a concert, get dinner afterwards. Then come back and get you loaded with some birthday shots. Then, we finish the night by ordering more food and marathon movies until we pass out.”

“You realize I’m not 21 right,” she said, “don’t think any bar, including McGinty’s, is going to serve a minor.”

“We don’t need a bar,” Connor explained, “we can buy a bottle or two of whiskey and drink all night. We’ll even get Rocco to come. He knows some good bakeries for a birthday cake.”

“Don’t really care for cake,” Katie admitted, “I prefer brownies or cookies or cheesecake.”

Murphy slung his arm over her shoulder, “then that’s what we get. Either way, we intend to make sure you have one hell of a birthday bash. Not everyday you turn 18.”

“Yeah,” said Connor, slinging his arm on her other side, “our dear lass here is about to be a proper adult. We got ta make sure she gets a proper start at adulthood.”

That was the only time they spoke about her birthday. She, honestly, forgot that they were going to do that until…

She woke up to the sound of banging on her door. Before she could even react, it swung open and in came Connor and Murphy. They carried boxes and party bags, placing them on her dining table.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY,” they shouted.

At her flummoxed expression, Murphy spoke, “you didn’t think we were gonna miss out on your birthday, did ya? We already told ya what we were gonna do.”

“Speaking of,” Connor said, “it’s time for the first round of birthday shots.” He reached into one of the bags and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. “18 shots for the birthday girl.”

“That sounds like a trip to the hospital to be honest,” Katie said, getting up.

The boys rolled their eyes at her.

“Obviously, not at the same time,” Murphy said, “you have no tolerance. Last thing we need is to have your liver give out on ya.”

She walks over to where they stood. Connor had pulled out shot glasses that he snagged from Doc and had already poured out shots for the three of them. He picked one up and handed it to her. Then, he and Murphy picked up theirs. They raised their glasses to her.

“Happy 18th birthday, Katie,” Connor started.

“May you have many more,” Murphy finished.

They tapped their glasses on the table and then downed them in one gulp. They looked at Katie and motioned her to do the same.

Katie squinted at them and looked suspiciously at the golden colored drink in her hand. She sniffed it and the smell stung her nose. She looked back at the boys as they watched her amused. She mentally went _‘fuck it’_ and copied what the boys had done.

The taste and burn surprised her. Fuck, it was gross. She made a face.

“What the fuck,” she said, grimacing and retched a bit, “fucking hell, that’s gross. Oh shit, what did you give me.”

She put the glass on the table and ran over to the kitchen. She threw open the fridge door and grabbed the bottle of lemonade she grabbed the day before. Twisting the cap off, she started taking a few sips to get rid of the taste. She looked over at the boys to see them practically falling over themselves laughing. It was a mix of them leaning on each other and leaning on her table. A desperate attempt to stay standing amongst their laughing, faces red and tears streaming down their cheeks. She glared at them.

“You can not tell me that you actually drink that piss,” she snapped at them. This had to be a joke. Who the hell in their right minds would drink something so gross?

They laughed at her some more, Murphy losing the battle and falling to the floor. His feet kicking in the air. Connor was literally bent over the table, holding onto the edges in an attempt to ground himself.

She let them stay like that for a while, before they finally sobered up.

“We’ll have you know, lass, that this is good shit,” Connor said, wiping the tears from his face. His face was still red and he was breathing hard.

“Tastes more like bad shit,” she sassed back.

“Well, you got 17 more shots to go,” Murphy threw in, as he was picking himself off. Just as tear-stained, red-faced, and out of breath as his brother.

The look the girl sends their way reduces the boys back into the cackling messes they had just gotten themselves out of. Connor grabbed the glasses and poured out another.

Katie has had three shots so far and it’s still morning. Thankfully, one of the boxes was filled with glazed munchkins from Dunkin’ Donuts. The three were giggling messes, Katie mostly. The boys made sure that she ate a good chunk of the doughnut holes and that she had some water, before they sent her off to go get dressed.

“Got all sorts of fun stuff to do today,” was all Murphy was willing to share.

She got dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a Harley Davidson t-shirt that she had turned into a crop top. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and stuffed her feet into her combat boots. She grabbed her leather jacket and her purse, heading over to the front door where the boys waited for her. She looped her arms with the boys and headed out for what would definitely be the best time out.

So far, the boys did not disappoint and, Katie would find out pretty quick, they took the whiskey with them. They took her to a bookstore that she had been thinking of checking out and she got a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. She had a weakness for fantasy novels and it looked interesting. They finished that trip with shot number 4.

They also took her to a pet store, made her take two shots, and the three literally spent a hour cuddling kittens and playing with puppies while the employees cleaned out the kennels. The alcohol in her made her very weepy as she sat on the floor holding onto puppies and going on about how she loves them and can’t protect them all. She also had to be talked out of adopting because they didn’t know if Doc would allow animals and that wouldn’t be fair to anyone.

Shot number 7 was taken in front of this guy and his buddy who had somehow wheeled out two pianos for some kind of interactive street performance . One guy was sitting at one piano and playing some unknown melody to entertain passerby’s. With liquid courage pumping through her veins, Katie walks up and sits at the second piano. She cracks her knuckles, shoots a wink at the other pianist, and starts playing a tune that was a mashup of Carol of the Bells and the Imperial March. The other pianist actually stopped playing and watched in excitement. Other people stopped and stood by the boys to listen as Katie played. She soon went from her mashup to playing songs from various movies, including more _Star Wars, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, James Bond_ , and many others. Then she started playing Journey’s _Don’t Stop Believin’_ , singing the the lyrics from heart. The brothers didn’t expect her to be this fucking good, like she should be on stage good. People joined in singing when the song reached it’s chorus. The other pianist joining in and soon, the two were playing off of each other through song mashups. When Katie and the other pianist finally finished their little game, the crowd applauded. She, drunkenly, turned to the other pianist and managed to shake his hand and stumbled over to her friends.

She fell face first into Murphy’s chest and the older man wrapped his arms around her to help keep her steady.

She looked up at him and slurred, “where to now? Still got a few more shots to go.”

Murphy laughed, “gonna get you some lunch and water. Try to sober you up a little. Don’t want you passing out before the day’s over.”

“I want a cheeseburger,” she slurred, nuzzling her head into Murphy’s chest and took a deep breath, “you smell nice.”

He and his brother laughed at her, “Thanks,” Murphy answered, tightening his hold on her.

Katie wrapped her arms around Murphy’s waist and mumbled, “you’re ssssssssssooooo warm. Have you alwaysss been this warm?”

Connor started cackling, “she’s slammed and it’s only shot 7.”

Murphy shot a concerned look at his twin, “should we stop,” he asked.

“We won’t make her take another for a bit,” Conner amended, still laughing, “we’ll get her some water and food. That’ll help bring her back. When she’s a bit steadier, we’ll check to see if she wants to keep going.”

At his brother’s reassurance, Murphy adjusted Katie’s hold on him. Moving her to stand next to him, while she was still holding onto him. Connor positioned himself on her other side in case Murphy needed rescuing. They led her to a burger joint a couple blocks over from where they were and got her to release Murphy so she could slide into the circle booth the waitress took them too.

The brothers slid in to sit on either side of her and ordered water for the three of them.

“You two treat me so well,” she slurred, laying her head on the table.

“Aye, com’ on, lass,” Connor coaxed, “ye still gotta order yer burger.” He scooted closer to her and gently eased her up and adjusted her so she could lean into his shoulder. “Here,” he said, holding up the menu for the two of them, “I’ll hold it up for ye and you tell me what you want. Then, you can go back to dozing.”

“Sweet,” she said, eyes trying to focus on the menu.

It took a few minutes, but Katie was able to tell Connor what kind of burger she wanted and snuggled up to the Irishman. The waitress after giving them a suspicious look and, after being reassured that the girl with them was fine, they ordered their food. Murphy also ordered coffee for the three of them to help the girl sober up even more.

“You smell good, too,” she murmured, nuzzling her head into his shoulder.

Connor snickered at her, “thanks.”

Murphy slid her water glass over to her, “try drinking some water,” he said, softly, “it’ll make you feel better. We also ordered a coffee that you can have after lunch.”

She looked blearily at the glass. Murphy scooted over so she was squished up between them and held up the glass to her, adjusting the straw so she just had to put it in her mouth. Katie does as requested and takes a few sips. When she had drank a third of the glass, Murphy finally left her alone, scooting away a little so he wasn’t all up in her space.

Soon, the waitress returned and placed their food on the table. The smell of the burger and the oozing amounts of cheese she ordered, woke the girl up. She grabbed the burger and ate it all, fries included. She was very hungry. She drank more water as well and soon she was feeling more awake and when the waitress brought them coffee, she was wide awake and ready for action.

They paid for their food and when they got outside the restaurant, the boys turned to her.

“How do you feel now,” Connor asked, “Do you feel like you can keep going or do you want to call it a day early? Last thing we want is for you to spend the rest of your birthday puking your guts out.”

Katie took a moment to try and notice if her body felt sick.

She looked at Connor, “I feel fine,” she said. Connor shot her a look and she kept going, “no really, I feel fine. I felt really tired when we sat down in the restaurant, but after you two made me eat and have water, I feel fine. Almost like I hadn’t been drinking all day. Of course, knowing me, that would be some famous last words.”

Murphy snorted, “she’s fine.”

Connor rolled his eyes, but asked anyway, “do you want to keep going? There’s no shame in not finishing. You have no tolerance remember.”

“I’m good. I’m only at seven shots so far. I’m almost halfway done,” she said, grinning, “I can keep going.” She walked down the sidewalk and looked back to see the boys still standing there. She grinned, mischievously, “unless you’re worried that I can get my Irish on better than you two.”

They barked out a laugh at the challenge and caught up to her. Connor pulled out the whiskey and shot glass he’d been hiding in his jacket. He poured her a shot and gave it to her. She downed it and grimaced.

“Still tastes like piss,” she spat.

The day went on like that. They went to a movie and smuggled in the whiskey like it was nothing. During the movie, Katie had taken another four shots, putting her up at 12. She was going to sleep well tonight.

They eventually stumbled back to her apartment. Before they went up, Doc had stopped them to wish the girl a happy birthday and gave her a shot of whiskey to celebrate. There was shot number 13 and she felt light as a feather.

They opened her apartment door to see it all decorated and Rocco standing there waiting for them, a huge grin on his face.

“Got things set up like you asked, boys,” he said.

“Good,” Murphy said, helping her to the dining table, “she’s had thirteen shots so far today and needs more food. Some water too. Don’t want her passing out just yet.”

Rocco laughed and pulled the girl to his side, kissing her temple. He opens up a box and there was a chocolate cheesecake with strawberries on top.

“Happy birthday, you crazy bitch,” he cackled, giving her a spin to mess with her.

When Rocco set her down, Katie had to hold onto hime while she waited for her head to stop spinning. The boys laughed and helped slice up the cheesecake and gave her a big slice. They dished themselves up their own and started scarfing down their own slices.

She took a bite and moaned, “Rocco,” she cried, “please marry me.”

Rocco laughed while the boys choked, “why do you want to marry me?”

“You know where to get the good shit in this town,” she said, tears welling in her eyes, “you take me to all sorts of amazing restaurants or bring me really yummy sweets from bakeries that I don’t even know exist. You treat me so well. If someone doesn’t marry you soon, I will.”

Katie couldn’t help it, she started to drunkenly cry, “you boys treat me so good.”

The three laughed again and proceeded to make her eat more cheesecake and Murphy had grabbed a glass of water for her. She finished her dish and downed the water in one go. Murphy took her glass and plate, while Connor moved her to sit on the couch. She noticed that there were packages on her coffee table.

“oh,” she said, dumbly, “I have mail.”

“These,” Rocco said, motioning to the packages, “are birthday presents from your family. Your parents gave Doc a heads up and asked us to give them to you on your birthday. Your mom even made sure to put “BD” on them, so we knew which ones were presents that way we didn’t accidentally take any packages you might have been waiting for.”

“Can I open them,” she drunkenly asked, eyes wide.

He snorted, “duh they’re for you. We’ll help cut the tape open and give them to you. We won’t peak.”

They spent the next few moments opening her packages. She got some new clothes from her mother, her brothers got her a bunch of CDs and various books about cars. She also got new movies, more colored hair dye to redo her rainbow, and some books that she had been thinking of reading. She had also received a sketch book and some different types fo pencils to use.

Katie had loved every gift given and made sure that thins were put aside neatly and trash dealt with. She didn’t want to put it off for later. When she thought it was over, suddenly she finds a very large, colorfully wrapped present put in her lap. She notices a tag on it and reads it.

“From Connor and Murphy,” she mumbles. She looks up at the brothers who were sitting on either side of her on the couch, “You didn’t have to get me anything, guys.”

“I got you something too, but you have to open this one first,” Rocco added, holding up his own colorful package. It looked a little heavy.

She looked at the package curiously and slowly unwrapped it. She gasped, hand flying to her mouth and tears welling up.

In her lap was a new electric keyboard. It wasn’t a cheap one either. This was one of those brands that professional musicians used.

“Oh boys,” she said, tears gliding down her cheeks, “this is too much.”

“You said that your last one was destroyed,” Murphy said, shrugging with a smile.

Connor wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple, “we asked your folks what kind you had last. Ended up learning that you actually wrote your own music. So we figured that if your gonna get a new one, it’s gotta be a good piano to play on,” he explained.

She sniffed, “this is amazing,” she gave the brothers her brightest smile, teas streaming down her face, “thank you.”

She leaned up and gave Connor then Murphy a kiss on their cheeks.

“You aren’t done yet,” Rocco interjected, reminding them that he was still there, “You still have my present.” He helps her set down the piano and gives her his present.

It felt heavy in her lap and she carefully removed the colored paper. The paper revealed a cardboard box. She opened and couldn’t believe her eyes. Inside the box were a bunch of music score packets for piano. Rocco had gotten her the sheet music from popular movies, TV shows, and video games. At the bottom of the pile was a packet of blank sheets. She looked at Rocco in surprise.

“Like Connor said,” the Italian explained, “you used to write music as well. Figured that if you were to have a piano, you might want to give writing music a shot again.”

None of the men were sure how, but her smile grew even bigger. She handed Murphy the packets and lunged at Rocco, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a kiss on his cheek too.

“I don’t know how,” she cried, “but you three are the best guys a girl could have around.”

“Don’t think the night is over yet, lass,” Murphy said, having gone up and placed the sheet music on her desk, “the day’s not over yet. We still have a few more shots left.”

She looked at Murphy, “how many I got left? I lost count.”  
  


“Five,” Connor said, having moved the rest of her presents to her desk as well with Rocco’s help.

“Let’s do it,” she says.

She gets up from the couch and heads for the table. She locates the whiskey and glasses and pours shots out for everyone. For the next few moments, the four spend their time at there. They tossed back shots and chased with bites of cheesecake right out of the box. Even after she had taken that 18th shot, they kept going. They eventually moved back to her couch where they selected movies to marathon and make poorly-executed drinking games.

Laughter would fill that apartment all night long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda enjoyed writing this chapter as it let me flesh out parts of my OC that I wanted to show off a bit (and have you all aware for when this gets into TWD). I’ve currently written up to chapter 6 and whoo boy. I can hardly wait for you all to get that chapter its fucking delightful if you catch my meaning ;)
> 
> However, after I wrote it I started having trouble figuring out where I was going. So I’m kinda taking a break from Part 1 and started writing part 2 since it will go right into the first Boondock Saints movie. I kinda have a timeline set up via series parts as to what each part will be.
> 
> Part 1: pre-BDS1 obvs. This is OC meeting MacManus brothers for first time and eventually falling in love. Ends before BDS1
> 
> Part 2: BDS1. I’ll keep it mostly the same, but I am changing the ending a bit (fuck Troy Duffy killing off our boy Rocco. He deserved better). This will end right at the start of BDS2 when Father Sibeal shows up at the the MacManus farm.
> 
> Part 3: BDS2. Again, I’ll change the ending a bit. I am definitely giving it the Fast and the Furious 4 ending, where I will not do the breakout. This will end right when Rick wakes up at the first season of TWD
> 
> Part 4: TWD Season 1 and 2. I combined these two seasons b/c s1 was only 6 episodes. I have ideas as to how I want things to go. Somethings I change, characters I might save or let die like they had before. Still on the fence, but have thought out.
> 
> The other parts are divided up by season or seasons, depending on how much is packed in there. (I actually need to go back and finish the rest of my outline since I only finished like half??? Of it??)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope you all enjoy the weekend!!
> 
> Stay safe everyone!! Love you to bits!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter!! So I would have posted it this morning, but literally last night I decided to add something that I had been thinking about for a few days. So, ta da!!! Hope you all enjoy this chapter! I also want to give a big thanks to BlackheartedPhoenix. We met first on tumblr and she’s been a big supporter of my fic when I was only giving updates about the outline I’d been writing. She’s also been really great with bouncing off ideas or refining things I want to happen in my series. She’s been super awesome and her writing is great too!! So check out her AO3 or look her work on tumblr: phoenixblack89

Two days after her birthday bash the boys threw her, Katie is sitting on her couch reading. The boys were hanging out as well. McGinty’s wouldn’t be opening in up for a few more hours so they decided to kill time having a quiet day with her until then. They had the TV set on some sports news channel, when her phone rang.

Figuring it’s her mother, she heads to her kitchen counter and answers her phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Katie. It’s Marcus Brody.”

“I guess I can figure what you are gonna ask me, huh,” she asked, cheekily.

“Yeah, yeah,” came the amused reply, “I take it your interested?”

“I’d be an idiot to say no to missing out on the biggest global event. Hell yeah. When do I have to show up?”

That got the boys attention.

“End of February. Do quick try outs. If you can keep close to your old scores, you’re in.””

“Cool. I’ll let my parents know and inform my university that I’ll be taking the next semester off and be back in the fall.”

“Have you kept up?”

“Not in the last year and half – two years. Had some personal issues. They’re resolved now. I can start a training regiment to at least shake off the rust while I finish the semester. When I finish, I’ll really pick up my training for tryouts.”

“Good. Good. Give me another call when you’ve squared everything with your school. I have some contacts in Boston. See if I can get you a trainer to set a training schedule for you. Maybe find you a range for gun practice and archery at least.”

“I know you won’t let me down, Marcus.”

“I’ll get back to you soon. Keep up with your studies. I’ll give your folks a call too. Take care, kid.”

“Bye, Marcus.” She hung up the phone and turned around to head back to the couch.

Instead, she runs face first into Murphy’s chest. She stumbles back and is caught by Connor before she could fall.

“What was all that ‘bout, lass,” Murphy asked, curiosity in his voice and expression.

She raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you two nosy,” she rebutted, “if you must know, it’s Marcus Brody. He is the manager for the USA Olympics team. He was calling to talk about tryouts and training.”

“You his assistant or something,” Connor asked.

“No,” she explained, “I’m an athlete. I went to the last Olympics 4 years ago. I competed and won gold.”

They stared at her, blinking owlishly. She stared back.

“What?” She waved a hand at them. “You two okay,” she asked, concerned.

“You competed in the Olympics,” Murphy asked, a surprised look on his face.

“Yes,” she answered.

“What events,” Connor asked, getting excited.

“I did four events,” she replied, grinning, “Taekwondo, archery, fencing, and shooting.”

“What’s fencing,” Murphy questioned.

“Sword fighting,” she clarified.

Their eyes lit up at the information and, while Connor still held onto her, started moving around the apartment. Murphy grabbed a pair of spatulas and threw one at Connor, who caught it.

“Avast ye scurvy dog,” Murphy cried out with his worst pirate accent, “I’m here to swashbuckle your dub blooms.”

Katie starts laughing and tries to push Connor away, but he takes her hand and makes her hold the spatula, before wrapping his hand around hers making her his puppet and his other arm wrapped around her waist, pulling him to her and off her feet.

“Ye’ll never get me gold, ye dirty swindler,” Connor cried back with his own bad pirate accent, swinging her arm around.

The two crossed ‘swords’ and started play fighting. Connor using her as a puppet and moving her around. He even jumped up on her table with her at one point. Being 5’5”, her feet were off the ground and swayed with every dramatic turn and spin that he made. All she could do was laugh as this went on. The banter between the two was ridiculous and the accents were absolutely terrible and just made her laugh harder. Tears were streaming down her face as she laughed. Finally, Connor made her ‘kill’ Murphy and he died as dramatically as their fight, all over the damn place.

“Oh, ye got me,” Murphy cried, dropping his ‘sword’ and clutching his side, “never thought that this is how I’d go.” He dropped to his knees dramatically, still clutching his side. “I never thought I’d be goin’ ta Davy Jones locker so soon,” he kept going, “aye de sirens of de locker are a callin’ ta me.” He lied on the floor. “Goodbye, cruel world,” he rasped, “bleh.” He closes his eyes, turns his head to the side and stick his tongue out to play ‘dead’.

Connor and Katie, who were respectfully quiet during his performance, clapped for the dead twin on the ground. Murphy grinned at them and popped up from his spot to stand before them, bowing dramatically.

“Thank ya,” he went, still bowing, “thank ya. I’ll be here all year.”

Katie and Connor snorted and the three moved back to the couches.

“So ya really goin’ ta the Olympics,” Murphy asked, pulling her too him. The excitement in his voice and posture was infectious.

“Yup,” she said, leaning into Murphy.

“Same events,” Connor asked.

“Yup.”

“When do you have to go,” Connor asked.

“The Olympics themselves aren’t till mid-July and end after the first week of August,” she explained, “but during the last week of February, there are tryouts for returning Olympians. Just to see if they are still up to snuff. If they can keep close to their scores in the Olympics or at least make the minimum, then they’ll be on the team and go right into and intense training regiment. We leave for the Olympics at least a week before to give us a chance to get used to being in a different time zone.”

“How long it lasts,” Murphy asked.

“Couple weeks I think. I only have 4 events. Once I’m done, I just have to support the rest of the team. I get paid too,” she explained.

“How much,” Connor asked.

“Olympians are paid per medal they win. It’s like around 40k for gold, around 30k for silver, and less than 20k for bronze. If an event requires a team, then the pot for that medal is split evenly amongst the team that won it. If it’s individual, then they get the whole amount for the medal. Plus, I get to keep them,” she said.

“We’ve never seen them here,” Murphy pointed out, looking around the apartment to check he didn’t miss seeing big gold medals.

“My parents have them,” she admitted, “Boston has a high crime rate. So I decided to leave them with my parents. My mom has them up on display back home. When I graduate and move to wherever my job takes me, I plan to take them and display them in my own home.”

“Can’t believe ya didn’t tell us,” Connor grumbled, “that’s only like the coolest thing ya could wave around.”

She rolled her eyes. “Didn’t want fake friends,” she admitted, “fame may open doors, but it also gives way to fake people, who only act like your friend so they can brag to other people that they are friends with someone famous.”

The boys mulled over what she told them. “Fair,” they said at the same time.

“Thank you’ll win again,” Connor asked.

“It’s gonna be hard,” she said, “especially since I haven’t kept it up in the last 2 years, but I think I can. Just gonna need to spend a lot of time polishing off the rust.”

“We’ll root for ya,” Murphy said, “we’ll make Doc put it up on the TV and watch ya win.”

“Yeah,” Connor added, “and when ya get back, we’ll drink ta celebrate ya.”

“You two don’t need an excuse to drink,” she teased.

“Of course not,” Murphy confirmed, “but there is always a reason to go drinking and this will be one of them.”

“What if I lose?”

“Then we drink our sorrows away for an evening,” Connor replied.

They kept talking until it was around time for the pub to open. Katie had gotten changed into the outfit that she’d wear for the evening and the boys trudged down stairs to see if Doc would let them pre-game before opening.

It’s been 3 months since the boys celebrated her birthday and talked about her upcoming attendance at the Olympics. The rest of the year went off without a hitch. Before Katie had left for her parents place for the holidays, she had made the three and Doc a bunch of her family’s Christmas cookies to leave for them as thanks for all they’ve done for her.

Now it’s a few days into the new year and Katie was feeling conflicted. She really liked the boys. Rocco was like an older brother and she loved him. The brothers however another matter entirely. She isn’t too proud to admit to herself that she definitely had a schoolgirl’s crush on the boys. Honestly, it’s kinda hard not too. They were bother very attractive and they were absolute sweethearts. Now, she understands that the two can be absolute shitheads and she loves giving them grief when they get like that. Whenever she would talk to them, she would mess with them and throw out the occasional innuendo. Seeing them trying not to spit out their drinks in surprise and their faces flushing red in embarrassment would have her in tears. She didn’t always do it because it was so much fun to see them let their guard down only get surprised again. Rocco thought it was hilarious too. He helped come up with some of the stuff she said and the brothers did not appreciate having the tables turned on them so easily. But that still didn’t help with her problem.

That little crush was still there and what’s even worse, it was getting stronger.

Don’t get her wrong, she has tried dating. When she told their friends that she was going to give dating a try, they had been more than supportive. Rocco had a pretty good sense of fashion and would help her pick out outfits and the brothers would tell her of places that were cheap, but still good so as to not drain the accounts of a pair of college students.

But none of her dates went past the first date. She’d be out with the guy or girl and it would feel lackluster at most. Sometimes they went well, but she just didn’t click. Of course most of the dates she went on went well. Most of her dates had ended as one-night stands or some tried to. Katie didn’t mind, she was very open about sex. Didn’t help that some of the people she went on dates with were pricks.

But the worst part was that she kept comparing a good chunk of her dates to Connor and Murphy. She had spent a good deal of time hanging out with them and she wouldn’t trade it fro the world. Unfortunately, it made her feel like she was putting an unrealistic standard for her other dates.

Basically, she is having a dilemma and it involves a pair of Irish brothers and she doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t think that they see her that way she does either. As far as Katie knows, they probably see her as either a close friend or little sister.

And it sucked balls.

What’s worse is she doesn’t just have feelings Connor or Murphy. She has feelings for Connor AND Murphy.

Wait, when did crush become feelings?

Katie groaned in frustration and lied back on her bed. This call to her mother was not going well. Her mother couldn’t agree more.

“Wow,” her mother said, “just wow.”

“Thanks for the lovely commentary, mother,” she bemoaned, “as always you have been an infinite source of wisdom.”

“Don’t get boots with me, missy,” her mother scolded, “you called me.”

“Actually you called me and asked me how I’m doing,” Katie corrected, “I just made the mistake of opening my mouth and pouring out my feelings to you.”

“Have you tried figuring out which one you liked the most,” her mother offered.

“Mother,” Katie said, a bit dramatically, “You’ve met them. Could you decide which one you like best?”

“Personally, I’d say Murphy,” was her reply, “He’s got the smolder down to a fine art.” She heard her daughter groan in agreement over the phone and continued, “but when it comes to you, I can see your problem.”

“I can’t believe I’m stuck in some one-sided love triangle,” the rainbow-haired girl grumbled, “can I even call this a love triangle? Shit, now I’m gonna have to read some damn stupid romance novels to make sure or something.”

“Katie, calm down,” her mom soothed, “do you think you are only developing feelings for them because of all those issues with Travis?”

Katie paused for a moment and answered, “I don’t think so, but I sincerely hope not. That just makes me feel worse.”

“I know, baby, but this is a question you should ask yourself,” her mother could only offer, “I’m sorry if I can’t offer any more advice.”

“Honestly,” Katie explained, “just being able to put it out in the open, even just to vent, was helpful. I need to think about this. I’ll figure this out eventually. I think at this point, I’ll just take it one day at a time. Maybe I’m just rushing with my dating or maybe my expectations are too high.”

“Have you thought that maybe you should try distancing yourself from them,” her mother offered.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you spend a lot of your time with them right?”

“Yeah…”

“Well,” her mother paused, trying to find the right way to word this, “what if you spent less time with them? Why not try and make friends with other students on campus? Whenever we talk, it’s always Connor this and Murphy that. Maybe you should try to hang out with people that aren’t Connor and Murphy. And yes, I know you spend time with Rocco, but he’s their friend first and wherever he is, the pose two aren’t that far behind. Maybe if you did, those feelings you have might go away. That or you might develop feelings for someone else.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“It’s just a suggestion. If it doesn’t feel right, then don’t do it. You are a sweet girl and you have a big heart. I can honestly see you being able to have feelings for both of them. I wish I could offer better advice or take away all your problems. Like you said earlier, just take it one day at a time. I’m positive you might be able to figure something out. You’re a very smart, young woman.”

“Okay.”

Katie could hear crashing yelling in the background on her mother’s side of the phone. Looks like her brothers are up to no good again. “I have to go, sweetie,” her mother told her, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom,” Katie echoed.

“Talk to you later. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Katie hung up her phone and lied on her bed. She did not sign up for this. Go to Boston for college, graduate, get a job and move wherever the job takes her. Maybe complete in the Olympics a few more times, the retire after winning her weight in gold or something. Not get feelings for a pair of Irish brothers who are honestly the best thing to happen in her life. She lied on her bed for a while and mentally went through all her time with the boys, especially during and after Travis’s break-in. She sat up, a determined frown on her face. She had come to a conclusion.

She definitely started feeling things for them after the break-in, but not because of it. That much she was positive about. She looks at her piano, the music stand behind it cluttered with sheet music that had handwritten notes on it. Since Travis went on the lam, Katie felt more comfortable to stay on campus longer. This meant she was going to the music department to use the pianos there and working on her music. She even started using the gym there to do her training regiment that a trainer Marcus was friends with sent her. The boys gifting her with a new piano, and such a really nice one, gave her a warm feeling and she had a small, soft smile at the memory.

Yes, her birthday was when she realized that she started developing feelings for the brothers. She hadn’t meant too, but she did.

And it scared her.

There was no way she could talk to them about this. So with her decision resolute, she decided that she was content with just remaining friends with the brothers. She wouldn’t show favoritism, she wouldn’t try to date one of them. She would try to make friends, but not force herself into hanging out with people if the goal was to spend time away from Connor and Murphy. That wouldn’t be fair to the people she’d be hanging out with.

With that, she got up and headed to her desk. She had a history report to complete and it wasn’t writing itself.

What Katie did not know was that the brothers had unintentionally listened in on the conversation between her and her mother. They hadn’t meant to really. There are conversations that nobody should ever be privy too. A conversation between a daughter and her mother is definitely up there.

The brothers hadn’t meant to listen in. Murphy had grabbed a phone in McGinty’s to order pizza to take up to Katie. She had asked them if they could proofread her paper. She was mostly having them read it to make sure that it sounded coherent. She had a bad habit of writing nonsense in her papers if she writes them in the middle of the night.

When Murphy realized what he stumbled on, he froze. Connor who was standing next to him and too damn curious, grabbed the phone and listened in. He shared a look with his brother.

“Didn’t realize she liked us like that,” Murphy murmured, making sure that their phone was muted. His brother nodded. He didn’t notice either and he’s a hit with the ladies. He could always tell when a lady was into him.

At the mention that her feelings might have developed because of the break-in made them freeze. If what Katie felt was more around to that of romanticized hero worship, then it made the boys uncomfortable. They had already admitted to each other that they like her, more than they should. They had already resigned themselves to being her friend. It’s why they made sure that they were supportive for Katie when she said that she finally felt comfortable enough to try dating. It didn’t mean it hurt any less that they weren’t the ones who were taking her out.

Her mother’s suggestion that Katie should try spending less time with the boys hurt a little as well. The idea that Katie felt she might have to distance herself from them so her feelings could go away was not a plan either MacManus like. When they heard the line go dead, Murphy hung up the phone. The brothers shared another look.

“I need a drink,” Connor groaned, rubbing his face.

“Or three,” Murphy agreed.

They walked over back to the table they snagged with Rocco, their friend frowning at the brothers’ upset faces.

“I take it the pizza place finally had enough of you,” Rocco tried to joke.

When neither brother responded, Rocco decided to rip the band-aid off and ask, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothin’ big really,” Murphy started.

“Just accidentally violated Katie’s privacy by stumblin’ on and then listenin’

in on a conversation between her and her mother,” Connor finished.

“While that is bad,” Rocco said, “I feel like there is more to this story.”

The brothers shared a look and downed the rest of their whiskey. They motioned to the server for the night for another round and each lit a cigarette. Rocco waited patiently for them to finish. He knew that the brothers would tell him when they were ready.

Murphy was the one who spoke, “it wasn’t so much that we listened ta her conversation. It’s what the conversation was about.”

“What was it about,” the Italian asked.

“Us,” Connor answered.

“What,” Rocco was confused, “was she talking shit about you or something?”

“The opposite,” Connor continued, “she was admitting to her mom that she had feelings for the two of us.”

“She likes both of us,” Murphy said, “like as in more than friends like.” Murphy frowned at his own wording, “God, I feel like I’m in some stupid chick flick talking like this.”

Rocco snorted, “You sound like it too.” He looked between his two friends and asked, “what’s the problem? She likes you right? That’s good. You two told me that you really liked her as more than a friend too. You should be thrilled.”

“Her mother thinks she might have develop feelings because we were there for her when Travis broke in ta her last apartment,” Connor added.

“It would make sense too,” Murphy threw in, “think about it. The two of us show up like knights in shinin’ armor. We let her crash at our place without expectin’ anythin’ from her. Then we helped her move to her current place AND we’ve been taking her to her classes before and after the break-in. Helpin’ keep an eye for Travis. Hell, we’ve crashed at her place a few times. Probably made her feel safe-”

“Stop,” Rocco said, sighed deeply and rubbed his face, “this is going to also sound like something out of a chick flick, but I think you should talk to her.”

The brothers looked at him like he grew a second head.

“Yes, I know,” he sighed, “men don’t really talk about their feelings, but I’m pretty sure that this is one fo the few exceptions to that. Especially since you two dumbasses like her and, for some reason, she likes you. Talk to her.” He took a deep drag of his own cigarette. “Worst case,” he said, the three knocking on the wooden table, “you don’t get together and your friendship ends up in a weird awkward phase for a good while.” He takes a deep gulp of his whiskey. “Best case,” he finishes, “you three end up together and it ends up being the best thing to happen to the three of ya.”

“Could still end in disaster,” Murphy threw out, brother gesturing toward his brother in agreement.

“If you keep looking for the worst in things,” Rocco said, “then that’s all you are going to find.”

The brothers were quiet and didn’t offer a rebuttal. Rocco had a point.

“Look,”” Rocco said, taking their glasses, “I’ll cover your tabs tonight, but ONLY if you go right now up to her apartment and talk to her. Tell her how you feel. See if there is something worth having.”

Katie was in the middle of writing her essay when she heard knocking on her door. Tensing, she reached for a drawer in her desk. She went to open it when…

“Katie, it’s us,” she heard Connor call through the door, “you don’ need ta pull the taser out.”

She went up and opened the door with a pout, “you never let me have any fun,” was all she grumbled, jokingly. She looks at the boys and notices the serious looks on their faces. Confused, she asks, “is something wrong?”

“Can we come in,” Murphy asked, hesitantly.

“Yes, of course,” she said, stepping aside to let the two in, “but you’ve never had to ask to come in before.”

“We figured that for this discussion, it would be better if we used our manners and be invited in,” was Connor’s explanation.

She closed the door and watched the two carefully. It was clear something was bothering the two brothers, but she was unsure what it was.

“Is everything okay,” she asked, “did something happen?”

“In a way…,” the darker haired MacManus trailed off.

“Oh no,” Katie said, eyes widening, “did something happen with your mom? Or Rocco?”

“What? No,” Connor was quick to correct, gently grabbing her shoulders, “no one is hurt. Nothin’ happened in that sense. We just need to talk to you about somethin’.”

“Oh,” she said, relaxing, “what did you need to talk about?”

The boys shared a conflicted look. Neither of them knew how to broach the subject. Seeing that the two were trying to figure out what to say, she decided to go over to her fridge and pull out a soda. She popped the tab and took a few sips of her drink, watching the two brothers patiently.

“It’s more like a confession really,” Murphy admitted.

“Sorry if I’m not wearing the proper attire for it,” she teased, “also, I don’t think I can bless you like the priests at your church do.”

“It’s not like that,” Murphy snapped, getting frustrated with himself. Why is it so hard to talk to her? Now of all times? They’ve been to her apartment and talked till the sun came up the next day. Murphy sighed in frustration and ran his hand through his hair.

“Sorry,” she said, looking chastised.

Connor shot an annoyed look at his brother. Nice, Murph. Real smooth.

“It’s not you he’s frustrated at,” Connor comforted, looking at her, “he’s just frustrated because of all the times we’ve spoken. This is the one time we seem to have trouble talkin’ ta ya.”

She nodded and continued waiting for the brothers to figure their shit out.

Finally, Murphy decided to start with the first problem, “we accidentally listened in on your phone call with your mom today,” he said, guiltily. He wouldn’t look at her, afraid to see how she’d react.

Connor, however, watched as the color drained from her face in shock. Then, realization. Fear. She set her soda down on the counter and wrapped her arms around herself. She looked at them, unsure and warily. Her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“How long did you listen,” she whispered, voice quivering.

“Long enough,” Connor answered, softly.

“So you know that I have feelings for both of you,” she asked, eyes trained to the ground.

“Yes.”

“Are you here to tell me that you don’t see me that way,” Katie raised her eyes to look up at the boys.

“Well, no,” Connor said, carefully approaching her, “we wanted to tell your that we have feelings for ya, but…” He trailed off, unsure how to finish his sentence.

“But, what,” she questioned, confusion written all over her face.

“But we’re worried that your Ma might be right,” Murphy finished for his brother, still refusing to look at her, “that ya only have feelings for us because we came to help you with Travis. Even though he was long gone and the police were already at the scene.”

Her eyes widened in realization, “I’ll admit I had the same worries as well, but I’ve thought long and hard about how my feelings for you formed and when.” Her gaze shifted between the two, “Yes, I felt a bit of fondness for your two for that day and for what you did for me in regards to Travis, but-“

Murphy finally looked at her with a glare, “But nothing, hero worship aren’t real feelings. You just think you have feelings for us.”

“I think I know my own feelings well enough, MacManus,” she snapped at him, anger in her eyes, “and right now the only feeling I have is that I want to throat punch you.”

Connor moved and stood between the two, “you’re right, Katie,” Connor appeased, “ya know your feelings better than me and me brother. But we are concerned. We like ya as well.”

Katie looked at him in surprise, “you do?”

“Yes,” he said, “and after hearing that ya might as well, we wanted it ta be sure that your feelings weren’t hero worship. We don’t like the idea of takin’ advantage of ya.”

Katie felt her brain short-circuit. They like her. That same way she likes them. She just stood there staring at them. Connor and Murphy shifted uncomfortably, the two looking at each other and shrugging.

“You have feelings for me,” she said, realizing what the conversation was about.

“Yes,” Murphy said, confused, “that’s why we came up ta talk to ya.”

“You have feelings,” she echoed, “for me.”

Connor looked confused and nodded, “yes. We do.”

She pointed at herself, “me?” Apparently, her brain had yet to reboot, so she was stuck on a loop.

Murphy brushed past his brother and stood in front of her, “yes,” he growled in frustration, lightly jabbing her shoulder, “we have feelings for ya.”

Katie reached a hand up and gently cupped Murphy’s face. He leaned into her hand.

“Really?”

“Yes,” Murphy said, eyes softening.

“Prove it,” she challenged.

Murphy arched a brow and grinned, “how would ya like me to prove it,” he asked, cheekily.

Her eyes gaze shifted to Murphy’s lips then back to his eyes.

“Kiss me,” she whispered.

Murphy froze and stared her down. His eyes flipping back and forth between her own, searching for an answer to a question only he knew. When he felt like he found his answer, he relaxed, his gaze softening. He raised his hand to gently tuck her hair behind an ear. His hand continued on and buried itself in her hair. He firmly grabbed her hair and pulled her closer, forcing her to stand on her tiptoes.

He kissed her.

The hand that was cupping his face buries itself in his hair and her other hand grips his shirt like it’s a life line. Murphy places his other hand on the small of her back and pulls her closer to him, pressing her body against his. He gently walked her back until she feels the counter press up against her.

Murphy’s hands move to her hips and he picks up, placing her on the counter. Katie gasped in surprise and Murphy took advantage, slipping his tongue in her mouth. She moaned as Murphy’s tongue explored her mouth, swirling around with her own tongue. He tasted of whiskey and tobacco and she just couldn’t get enough of it. Her hands went from his hair to rubbing his chest, while his own hands were rubbing up and down her back and sides.

Soon, they needed to come up for air and they broke apart. Murphy’s hands rested on her hips, while Katie’s own had his shirt in a death grip. Her face was flushed red and she was trying to catch her breath. A soft smile grew on her face and brought her hand up to cup the Irishman’s face again. Murphy leaned into it and laid on his hand on top of hers to keep it there, shifting his face so he could kiss her palm.

A cough behind them brought them back to reality and their head snapped in the direction of the noise.

Connor had stayed where he was and was slyly grinning at them.

“Nice to see ya two finally remembered me,” he said, chuckling as he saw Katie’s flush red in embarrassment.

“Sorry, Connor,” she said, “I guess we kinda got carried away.”

He came over and shoved his brother off, in true annoying sibling fashion. Murphy squawked indignantly over his brother’s rough handling.

“I’m sure ya can make it up ta me,” he said, cheekily.

Connor cups her face and pulls her in for a kiss of his own. While Murphy’s was more sweet and tender, Connor’s was fast and rough, but no less sweet. He situates himself the same way as his brother, but he grabs her thighs and pulls her to him pressing her core against him. She gasped at his roughness and Connor used this to plunge his own tongue in her mouth for a taste. Burying her hands in his hair, Katie wrapped her lags around his hips and moaned at the man’s ministrations.

When she and Connor finally broke their kiss, Murphy came back over. Connor swooped back down to Katie, but instead of attacking her lips, he moved to her neck. Kissing, licking, and nibbling down her neck, while Murphy buried his hand in her hair and turned her head to him and kissed her deeply.

This went on for what felt like forever, the brothers taking turns switching between her lips and her neck. When the stopped, she was a panting mess. Her face was flushed red and her neck was sporting a few love bites, courtesy of the two Irishmen. They smirked at their handiwork and let her catch her breath.

“So,” Connor decided to start, “word on the street is ya like the two of us.”

Coming back to reality, Katie realized that she made out with both of them and shifted nervously in their grasp.

“I do,” she admitted, shyly, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Murphy said, giving her a peck on the cheek, “it’s a relief. Connor and I have always had trouble with relationships. Mostly because the person we were datin’ only wanted ta be with one of us or was just sleepin’ with us. At some point, we stopped tryin’ ta have a relationship and just stuck with one-night stands. We agreed that if we found someone who was interested in both of us, we wouldn’t let them slip away.”

“At least, if you’ll have us, lass,” Connor added, not wanting the girls o feel pressured..

She looked at them for a moment. Her lips formed into a soft smile and she raised her hands, cupping a cheek on each brother.

“Like I can say no to you two,” she said, gently rubbing her thumbs on their cheeks, “I’d like to see where this goes.”

“Aye,” said Murphy, “so do we.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY!! *insert Elmo fire gif here* I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. I promise there will be more development. I have a few things that they are going to go through before I end this part. I’m thinking close to 20 chapters for it... depends on how crazy this all gets. I’m also about halfway through part 2 bc I was so excited to get to it and jumped ahead of myself. Don’t worry I’ll make sure to go back to part 1 to write a couple chapters so that I don’t fall behind and get all you wonderful readers antsy.
> 
> Thank you all again for reading my fic if you’ve gotten this far. I love you all and hope you all enjoy reading it as I have writing it.
> 
> Be safe and love you lots!!! <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you lasted this long, kudos to you. Here’s some smut for you to enjoy!!!

The next couple weeks were spent figuring out their relationship dynamics. The boys had said that they wanted to properly woo her. They knew she didn’t care much for the usual things like jewelry, unless it had meaning, or flowers. Well, maybe flowers every now and then. The two had settled for taking her out for nice dinners, walks, a concert that had been playing in town. She got some new t-shirts from that and she cherished them. The brothers tried mixing up on the dates so they wouldn’t feel the same or overbearing. Sometimes it was just her and Murphy or her and Connor or sometimes both of them and her. The three always tried to make it so their relationship was balanced. Katie didn’t want to unintentionally show favoritism. She cared for them equally and as each day in their relationship went by, her feelings for them only grew. They had agreed on a level of their relationship. She would keep a few things, like some extra clothes and a toothbrush at their place and the same for the brothers at hers. The boys were over at her apartment so much before they were dating anyway, so she figured that this was just an added step. She even cleared out a drawer in her dresser so that the boys had a place to put a couple changes of clothes in.

It doesn’t mean there weren’t a few hiccups. Sometimes they had minor communication issues that would lead to arguments. A couple of times the boys stormed out to the bar below leaving Katie sad and angry. But they’d be back in an hour with an apology and usually with a flower. Sometimes, it was Katie who Katie had made it a point to tell the boys that if something was bothering them in the relationship, like if she overstepped a boundary or if they were uncomfortable, then they needed to speak up.

They also helped her train for the Olympics. Since she would be leaving around the end of February, they made sure that she stuck to her training regiment and diet (with the rare cheat day). They even took her to the gym where she’d work out and, when she found a martial arts dojo to practice her Taekwondo properly, they’d sit and watched. They were absolutely fascinated with how she was able to move with such grace and power in her tiny body. They also managed to help her find a range just outside of Boston where she could practice her archery and shooting. Marcus had gotten her stuff from her parents and sent it to her. She was getting the rust off a lot faster than she thought she would and definitely felt confident she would do well at the tryouts.

They also hadn’t slept with her yet. Connor and Murphy had said at the start that they wanted her to see that they could be proper gentlemen. They knew that they had a bit of a reputation of being ladies men and they wanted Katie to know that they could be good boyfriends. They also told her that when they finally reached that step in their relationship, they wanted it to be special. Katie said that she’ll go at whatever pace they wanted. She already got them, she was fine with anything else.

Valentine’s Day had rolled around and the boys planned to make it a good time. They showed up while Katie was getting ready for her classes. Thankfully, it was on a Friday. So whatever shenanigans the brothers had planned, she didn’t have to worry about needing to do anything the next day. They had brought breakfast for her and when she finished getting ready, she sat down and ate with them. There was a lot of cuddling and very risqué touching involved. If it hadn’t been for Connor who happened to glance at the oven clock, she would have been late for her first class.

When her classes finished, the boys were found at the campus square waiting for her. They each had a single flower to give her, even though they knew she didn’t care for them. She loved the symbology of flowers and the meanings and messages that they had, but she didn’t have much of a green thumb. She once killed a cactus and she wasn’t sure how. Either way, she loved it all the same.

They left her university campus and arrived at her apartment.

“I know on Valentine’s Day, we’re supposed ta take ya out ta dinner,” Connor explained, carrying her bag to her dining table, “but we also know you don’t really care much for it.”

“We thought instead,” Murphy continued, “that we just order in like we usually do and watch movies. We brought whiskey.” He held up the bottle to show. “Figured we’d try our hand at another drinkin’ game, if ya want.”

All three would learn after her birthday, that Katie was definitely not going to be a big fan of alcohol. After her 18 birthday shots, she kept drinking with the boys. She wanted to keep up and instead spent half of the next day living in her bathroom. The boys, thankfully, did not make fun of her and just held her hair and gave her water in between her vomiting. Okay, that’s a lie. They made fun of her a little So, she decided that she would keep drinking to an absolute minimum, like for celebrating specific events with loved ones. Like today with the boys. She’ll probably only have a shot or two. She didn’t want to spend the morning after again sick.

“Maybe,” she said, “I might just keep it to two or three shots. For my sanity.” Also, because she didn’t want to end up throwing up the next morning like her birthday.

Connor snorted, “I’ll order us some food. Do we got enough cash ta pay and tip?”

“Check my drawer,” she said.

Connor walked over to her kitchen counter and opened up a drawer. He moved some stuff over and picked up a white envelope. He opens it and starts counting out cash.

“This should be enough ta order for our usual,” he said, grabbing the phone off the wall.

Murphy, not wanting to be ignored, spun Katie around to face him and pulled her to him by her belt loops, pressing her against him. She smiled at him and rested her hands on his chest. He leans down and begins to kiss her tenderly.

“Missed ya,” he murmured to her in between kisses.

She smiled, “I guess I missed you too, Murph,” she teased, raising a hand up to thread her fingers through his hair.

He rolls his eyes at her and leans down again to kiss her. His hands move from her hips to wrap around her. One hand burying itself in her hair and the other to rest against the small of her back, pressing her further into his embrace.The wandering hand would teasingly dip lower and lower down her back, before finally cupping her ass and giving it a firm squeeze.

She moaned at Murphy’s ministrations. Soon, she felt another pair of hands firmly grasp her hips. Her hair moved to the side and lips connecting to her exposed neck. Looks like Connor finished ordering their food and didn’t want to be left out. Connor, mouthing against her neck, lets his hands wander. One hand had drifted under her shirt, Connor groaning at the feel of her skin under his hand. She felt so soft and warm.

Katie reached a hand back to grasp Connor’s hair. Her lips left Murphy’s so she could lean her head back on Connor’s shoulder, eyes shut tight. Not one to be left out, Murphy started attacking the free side of her neck. As if knowing what the other was thinking, the brothers pressed themselves into her, effectively trapping her in a MacManus sandwich and, to her, the feel of their bodies against her felt amazing.

Connor’s hand, the one under her shirt, started trailing up until it bumped against her breasts. Murphy eased back a bit, mouth still connected to her neck, to give his brother’s hand some room. When Katie didn’t protest, Connor’s hand went to cup her breast and gave it a firm squeeze.

Katie moaned and tightened her grip on Connor’s head. She started shifting her hips, grinding against Connor’s. Her legs started quiver as the brother’s hands started getting bolder. Murphy slipping a hand of his own under her shirt and started palming her other breast. His leg slipping between hers. Connor’s remaining hand being the boldest by reaching down to cup her core, rubbing harshly her clothed clit.

“Please,” she whimpered. The brother’s groaned at the sound.

“We should move this ta the bed don’cha think, Murph,” Connor hissed, as Katie grinding increased in pressure against his clothed cock.

“Agreed,” Murphy growled back, as Katie’s hand tightened its grip in his hair.

The two pulled away from her causing her to whine and look at Murphy in dazed confusion. She hadn’t paid attention to what either brother had said. Murphy picked her up bridal style and carried her over to her queen-sized bed. Murphy dropped her on it and stood back, his brother coming to stand by him. They both started palming their clothed cocks as they stared at the pretty scene Katie made on her bed.

Katie laid sprawled out where she landed. Her hair coming undone from her ponytail. Her face was flushed and her chest heaved as she stared back up at them. She still looked dazed and her neck was covered with marks left by them from their assault on her neck. She absentmindedly shifted her feet against each other, kicking off the sneakers she decided to wear instead of her normal combat boots.

Connor took at deep breath to keep himself in check, “do ya want ta keep going,” he asked, “we can stop now if ya not ready for this.”

Katie propped herself up on her elbows, desire in her eyes and raised a hand up at them, “I want you,” she beckoned, “now get over here and finish what you started before I take care of this myself.”

The brothers groaned at her demand. It sounded so hot, her demanding them like this. They shed their coats, tossing them somewhere behind them and worked to get their boots off. Before they got on the bed, they looked at each other.

“Who gets ta start off,” Murphy asked.

“Rock paper scissors for it,” Connor offered. She snorted.

The brothers held their hands up and battled it out. Murphy played paper, beating Connor’s rock. Murphy shot Katie that smoldering glare of his and smirked. She huffed a laugh at the brothers antics. Murphy crawled onto her bed and over her, forcing her to lie back on her bed. He held himself over her, mesmerized by how she looked under him.

“I’m gonna make you feel so good, aingeal,” Murphy whispered to her, before swooping down for another searing kiss.

Her hands shot up and buried themselves in his hair. Murphy’s hands wandered all over her body, before one slipped back under her shirt to palm her breast again and the other went to cup her core, rubbing harshly against her clothed clit. Katie wrapped a leg around him and tried to grind back on his hand. She gasped and moaned at Murphy’s ministrations.

Murphy used this to his advantage and slipped his tongue into her mouth. His tongue swirled around hers and battled for dominance. The man broke off the kiss and started kissing along her jaw and down her neck, sucking and biting his way up and down either side. When she moaned as one particular spot of her neck was attacked, Murphy latched onto it and sucked harshly. When he released her neck, he looked down to see a purple hickey where he had been.

Katie’s hands started roaming over Murphy’s body. Her hands traveled down his back to his ass. She cupped his ass and gave it a harsh squeeze, using the leverage she had to pull his core closer to hers. She released his ass and her hands slowly started traveling back up. When they reached the hem of his shirt, she dipped them under the shirt and dragged them up his back, taking the shirt up with them.

When the shirt bunched up at his shoulders, Murphy stopped and sat up on his knees so he could grab the shirt and rip is off his body, tossing it somewhere behind him. Katie’s hands reached up and started caressing his chest, mapping the lines on his body that showed off his muscle definition. Murphy had her sit up, so he could help her out of her own shirt.

Murphy’s mouth latched onto her neck again, one hand on the small of her back holding her up and the other palming her breast again through her bra. Katie’s hands latching onto his hair and the arm holding her up, throwing her head back and moaned. Murphy’s mouth trailed down her neck to her collarbone, kissing along it and giving the occasional harsh bite, soothing the spot with his tongue. When he had his fill, his mouth started it’s trip further down her chest, mouthing at the exposed parts of her breasts not covered by her bra. The hand holding her up traveled from the small of her back to the clasp of her bra and undid it, expertly she noted, with one hand. He stopped his ministrations to remove the garment. He started by slowly lower each strap from her shoulder and then he slowly removed it offer her arms, tossing the offending item behind him as hard as he could without turning. He heard Connor curse behind him. Looks like he nailed his brother in the head with it, if the struggling and flurry of curses was any indication.

Murphy gently laid Katie back down on the bed and sat there on his knees over her. Her chest heaving with desire, Katie stared up at him shyly. Her neck, clavicle, and the valley of her breasts were covered in red marks. Murphy ran his fingers up her side, just barely touching her. When they neared the side of her chest, she arched her back at the feather-light touches.

“Beautiful,” he said, “so fucking beautiful.”

She blushed and wiggled under him. Doesn’t matter how many times they complimented her, she always got flustered by them. Murphy grinned wickedly down at her and lowered his head to kiss her passionately. Pressing himself against her chest to chest, he couldn’t help the groan at the feel of her naked chest against his, at the feel of her warm skin against his. His cock throbbing almost painfully in his jeans at the feel of her against him. His hips grind against hers and she gasps at the feeling. The Irishman takes advantage to slips his tongue into her mouth. He swirls his tongue around hers. She returns the kiss just as passionately and soon it becomes a messy battle of clacking teeth and tongues.

Murphy breaks the kiss, “I’m gonna make ya feel so good, aingeal,” he repeats his earlier words to her.

He kisses down the side of her neck, to her clavicle, to her breasts. He latches onto a nipple, sucking harshly. He swirls his tongue around her nipple, before biting lightly. He hears her shuddering gasp and feels her hands grasping his hair, pulling him closer. His hand comes up and starts palming her free breast, so as to not neglect it entirely. He massaged it in his hand, his fingers tweaking the nipple lightly. Katie bucks up into him at the confused pleasure that Murphy was giving her. The mix of pain and pleasure creating a dazed fog in her mind. Soon, Murphy would switch over to her other breast, repeating his ministrations on that breast with his mouth and his hand would palm the now freed breast.

Connor could be heard grunting off to the side of them and groaned.

“Hurry up already,” he growled at Murphy. Katie’s eyes fluttered open and turns her head to look at the other brother.

The lighter haired Irishman was panting hard. He decided to lose his shirt, but remained in his jeans. His belt and fly was undone. His cock was out, standing at attention. Connor’s hand was wrapped around it and slowly stroking himself. His eyes were focused on her body. When he noticed her staring, he made eye contact. He grunts, strokes his cock harder for a few strokes and winks at her.

“Don’t worry, aingeal,” he groaned, “you’ll get this cock eventually. Murphy’ll take good care of ya in the mean time.”

Murphy growled and grind his hips against hers, forcing her to focus back on him. She moans at the feel. Murphy leaves her breasts and kisses down her naval, lavishly licking and nipping it, before stopping at her jeans. Katie looks down at Murphy to see him giving her his smoldering glare. When her eyes meet his, he grins wolfishly and pops open the button of her jeans, using his mouth to latch onto her zipper and unzip them. She shudders at the actions, her pussy getting wetter. Murphy sits back up on his knees and his thumbs dip under the sides of her jeans and panties. He slowly pulls them down and off her legs, tossing them aside. Katie’s legs are closed to him and she sways them slowly, looking up at him in anticipation and nervousness.

Murphy leans down and kisses the tops of her closed knees. He places his hands on them and gently eases her open, showing off her glistening pussy to him. He stayed like this just looking at her all bare and on display for him.

“Fuck,” he said, reaching a hand down to his clothed cock and started rubbing it to relieve some of the discomfort that his jeans were causing his cock, “you’re gorgeous. Ya look so good like this for me.” He rubs his remaining hand on her inner thigh tenderly. “So good,” he growled, lowering his head, “good enough ta eat I’d wager.” His eyes locked onto hers and smirked at the shuddering moan she released as she threw her head back when Murphy dragged his tongue against her core before moving to her thighs.

He placed open mouth kisses and nips on her inner thighs as he slowly traveled to her glistening core. When she felt his breath and stubble lightly brush against her pussy, she looked back at Murphy. His blue eyes locked onto her multi-colored ones. Without breaking eye contact, Murphy closes gap and sucks harshly on her clit. Katie jolts and throws her head back, crying out in a surprised whine that slowly morphed into a moan.

Murphy licked her clit, swirling his tongue around it and adding pressure before wrapping his lips around it again and sucked harshly. Katies thighs tried to snap up and close around his head, but the Irishman’s hands had a firm grip on them and he held them down, trapping her. He lowered his tongue to take a long swipe up her entrance and back to her clit, her hips raising to try and chase his tongue. Murphy adjusted his grip on her legs, throwing one over his shoulder and a hand coming up to palm her breast where he laid. He placed his mouth over her pussy and lapped over her entrance, tongue thrusting into her.

Katie felt herself getting higher and higher in her pleasure, her pussy getting wetter and wetter as Murphy continued his ministrations. Using only his mouth, he set a rhythm that had him going back and forth, lapping at her pussy and sucking on her clit. She felt her pleasure create a coil of tension in her. She could feel herself getting close.

“Murphy,” she whined, “I’m close. I’m so close.” A harsh suck on her clit made her squeal. “Please,” she begged, moaning and trying to grind her hips against his mouth, trying to chase her release. She reached a hand down to tightly grip his hair, the other hand gripping the sheets of the bed in a death grip. She was so close.

There was a sudden knocking on her door that brought her back to reality and caused Murphy to stop and turn around in surprise. She blearily looked over Murphy to her door. Who the fuck decided to show up while Murphy was eating her out like she was his last goddamn meal?

Connor stopped stroking himself and tucked his aching cock back in his pants with a groan in frustration. He didn’t bother fixing his pants as he walked over to the door. He cracked it open to see who it was. Murphy, seeing as it wasn’t an emergency since his brother was fine, turned back to the gorgeous girl before him and went back to working on Katie’s pussy. He also did not like Katie’s focus being directed away from him. So he brought a hand to her pussy and suddenly thrusted two fingers into her aching cunt and curled them just right to make her shriek in pleasure and moan whorishly, bringing her back to the man between her legs.

“What do ya want,” Connor growls at the intruder, while trying to watch what his brother was doing to Katie. Her moans heard in the background.

“Um,” the guy responded, dumbly. At a Connor’s glare, he snapped out of stupor, “Did you order Chinese, sir?” He raised the bags of takeout food for Connor to see and Katie released another loud moan behind Connor. The poor takeout guy was shifting uncomfortable and desperately trying to not look over the Irishman’s shoulder in fear.

Connor’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh, yeah,” he said, Murphy dragged another moan out of the girl behind him, “forgot we ordered food. How much was it again?”

The delivery man stuttered out the price. Connor raised a hand, gesturing to him to wait. He left the door and the delivery guy had perfect view of what was happening. He looked away, not wanting to get caught by Connor. The Irishman returned and gave the guy the money.

“Here’s for the food,” he indicated to the wad of the cash, “this also includes tip.”

They exchanged money and food. Connor kicked the door closed and and locked it. He places their food on the dining table.

“Food’s here,” he absentmindedly told them, returning to his chair and pulling out his cock. He resumed his earlier stroking and groaned at the sight of Katie arching her back at a clever combination of Murphy sucking her clit and rubbing that special little spot in her pussy, shrieking in pleasure.

Katie hadn’t even heard what Connor said, too caught up in the lavish attention Murphy was giving her sopping cunt. She felt her release building again now that Connor took care of the interruption. Her hands were gripping Murphy’s head tightly and she kept trying to ride his face from her position. She was so close.

Connor grinned wolfishly at her, “are ya close, sweet girl,” he said, giving himself a particularly harsh stroke at her responding moan, “go on, then,” he grunted, “cum for Murphy. Cum all over his face.”

At Connor’s words and a particularly harsh suck on her clit from Murphy, she let out another shriek as she came hard. Her pussy tightened and convulsed on Murphy’s fingers. Murphy kept up his attention, prolonging her high. His tongue swirling around her clit. He slowly pulled out his fingers and grinned smugly at her disappointed moan, he latched his mouth onto her pussy to lap up at her juices.

Katie lied there in a mind-numbing daze. Her legs and pussy spasmed at the aftershocks of her climax. Murphy’s continued attention at her core caused her to whine at the overstimulation she felt. Murphy finally pulled away to lean back on his knees, the evidence of her climax all over his mouth and chin. Keeping eye contact with the girl below him, his tongue shot out and wiped along his lips trying to lap up the mess she left on his face. He raised the fingers that he had used to fuck her pussy with and started to carefully lick them clean. He looked like a starved man that didn’t want to waste a single drop of the delicious meal he had.

Katie felt like her limbs, especially her legs, were made of jelly. She managed to find the strength to extend her arm out, hand beckoning Murphy to come back to her. Murphy finished his fingers off and leaned back down to her pussy. He gave it one last lick and a started kissing his way back up her body. Katie’s hands started wandering his body as he came up and tried to pull him up her faster, but Murphy was stronger and took his sweet time. He mouthed up her naval. Lavished her breasts. He nipped and sucked at her clavicle and gently kissed up her neck. He settled himself between her hips and propped himself up on his arms on either side of her head. Looking down at her, he ground his hips against her core. The harsh cloth of his jeans creating delicious friction against her sensitive clit.

She grabs Murphy’s face and pulls him down for a searing open mouthed kiss. Murphy’s tongue swirls around hers, letting Katie taste herself on his tongue. She moaned as Murphy kept grinding his hips against her clit. Her clit was still sensitive from her previous climax and the delicious friction and pressure Murphy was giving her was winding her up again. She felt her climax building up again and wrapped her arms around his back. Murphy broke off the kiss and latched back onto her neck. He placed his hands on her and sat up on his knees a bit, keeping her core pressed against his clothed cock. When he ground into her clit again, he brought her hips up at the same time causing her to rake her nails and practically scream in pleasure over the delicious friction.

“I love the sounds your making, love,” he growled into her neck, setting a rhythm.

She felt herself get wetter and wetter with each deliciously rough press of his jeans against her clit. The coil in her winding tighter and tighter. She kept trying to pull him tight to her, but then he would hit even harsher against her causing the girl bounce and leave more and more red scratches down his back. Murphy groaned at the feel of her nails raking down his back, knowing he was the cause.

“Fuck,” she moaned, wantonly, “I’m…… I’m so… close… again.”

“Do it,” Murphy groaned, “cum on me jeans. Let me see how much ya loved this.”

Murphy picked up the pace, rubbing harshly against her clit. Katie’s head is thrown back in pleasure and she is shrieking in between thrusts. The coil snaps and she cums on Murphy’s jeans. He stays there and lightly grinds against her to prolong her high again. She’s gasping for air with tears running down her face because of the overstimulation. When she comes down from her high, her body collapses under Murphy. He leans back again on his knees to observe his handiwork.

There she lay before him, sweaty and fucked stupid, looking up at him a daze. Katie couldn’t believe it. He hasn’t even pulled out his cock and he’s made her cum twice. Hard.

Holy shit.

Murphy looks down at his jeans and sees a dark spot. She came all over his jeans like he wanted. He looks over at Connor, smugly.

“Should we keep goin’ or should we give her a break,” Murphy asked, gaze shifting back to her with that same damned smoldering glare, “we got all night ta have fun with her.”

Katie felt herself getting aroused and wet again at Murphy’s expression alone. Connor caught the lustful look on her face.

“I’m pretty sure she’ll kill us if we stop now,” Connor replied with a smirk, thrusting up into his hand a little as she turned that lustful gaze to him.

She reaches out a hand to Connor. “Come here,” she whispered to him, “I want to touch you.”

Connor grins salaciously at her. He gets up from his chair and works himself out of his jeans and boxers. He walked up to the bed and slowly crawled over to her. He reaches out, grabbing her side, and pulls her to him.

She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him passionately. He returns the kiss and threads his hand through her hair, grasping the multi-colored strands in a firm grip. He groans at the feel of her naked body pressed against his. His cock throbbed against her stomach at the feel and Katie reaches down to grasp it, stroking it firmly. Connor breaks the kiss to rest his forehead against hers, eyes squinted shut and his hips jerk up into her hand as she strokes it. She kisses the corner of his mouth and moves to his neck. She places open-mouth kisses and gives him a few nips of her own against his neck. As she worked on his neck, she presses her other hand against his chest firmly and gets him to ease himself onto his back. While she leaned him back, she started trailing down his neck to his collarbone. To his chest. Down his navel. The entire time, she kept stroking him at a firm and steady pace.

Katie kisses along his hips, purposefully avoiding his cock. She grinned when she nipped at skin close to his cock, listening to him groan and raise his hips up to her a little. His hand threading itself in her hair. He gripped the rainbow-colored strands firmly and tried to gently move her head closer to where he wanted her. She smiled against his hips and sat up a little. She reached her free hand up to touch his and gently freed her hair from his hand. His wrist still in her grip, he cupped her face. She turns her head into his palm and kisses it gently, maintaining eye contact with him. Connor rubbed his thumb over her cheek before having it drag over her lips. She opened her mouth and closed it around his thumb. She pressed her tongue up against his thumb and sucked. Connor groaned.

She released his thumb from her mouth with a ‘pop’ and leaned back down. Her face hovered by his thick member. She gave Connor a mischievous look, before leaning further down and dragging her tongue up the length of his cock. When she reached the tip, she closed her lips around it and sucked, Connor groaning under her. Stroking him at the base, she slowly started bobbing her head up and down his cock, taking more of him little by little. Connor’s hand shot back into her hair and soon, he took control of the pace of her bobbing. She felt herself get wetter at Connor’s moaning.

Katie felt a hand cup itself against her pussy, pressing two fingers in her suddenly and in her surprise caused her to jolt forward and taking too much of Connor’s cock in her mouth and down her throat, causing her to gag harshly. Connor immediately pulled her off his cock as she coughed and sucked in air. She looked behind her to see Murphy staring at her wide-eyed in shock, with his two fingers still deep in her pussy, not moving. Connor huffed at him and glared.

“For Christ sake, Murph,” he growled in frustration, “we’re tryin’ ta show the lass a good time, not kill her on me cock, fuckin’ idiot.”

Murphy glared at his brother, “Lord’s fuckin’ name,” he snapped back, “and I fuckin’ didn’t mean too. I thought she noticed me movin’ behind her.”

Katie, having finally caught her breath, asked, “what exactly were you trying to do?”

He looked back at her and grinned sheepishly. “Wanted ta eat ya out again, aingeal,” he mumbled, “didn’t want ta get left out.” He realized that his fingers were still in her pussy and pulled them out, grinning still. “Don’t really like sittin’ back and watchin’ like me brother likes too. Didn’t mean to startle ya either.”

Katie started laughing, rolling off Connor to lie beside him on her back and clutching her belly. She most definitely was not expecting to accidentally choke on a dick and she couldn’t help but laugh about it. Murphy and Connor flushed both red in embarrassment. After a couple of minutes of her just losing it, with tears in her eyes, she looks apologetically at the brothers.

“I’m sorry,” she said in between giggles, “I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at the situation.”

“It’s not that funny,” Connor grumbled, a smile forming on his face. Ok, he found it a little funny and so did Murphy, if that smile growing on his face was anything to go by.

“Oh, it’s a little funny, MacManus,” she said, turning to face Connor and kissed his shoulder. She placed her hand on his chest and started drawing invisible patterns on them. She leaned her head closer to Connor’s lips so she could kiss him. The man more than happy to reciprocate. Giving the Irishman a coy look in between kisses, her hand slowly tracing her fingers down back to his cock. Before she could grasp it, Connor’s hand gently grabbed her hand and brought it back up to his face so he could kiss the back of it. He looked at her with a smirk.

“As much as I enjoyed that,” he whispered in a husky voice, “I’ve had my fill with foreplay as appetizin’ as it was.” He rolled himself on top of her, gently pushing her to return to lying on her back as well. “I’d very much like ta get ta the main course.” He nipped at her neck, playfully. She could feel his throbbing length rest heavily on her belly.

“Well, if your that hungry,” she responded, motioning to her dinning table, “I’m sure that the Chinese food is still hot.” She snickered at the exasperated, but amused look the gorgeous man above gave her.

“Yeah, Connor,” Murphy teased, “if ya too hungry right now, ya can go eat and I’ll keep the lass occupied.” Katie reached out a hand for a high-five, which Murphy returned. He’d never leave her hanging. Connor groaned in frustration. How is it that he got stuck with these two, he’ll never figure out. So he did the only thing he could do.

He slipped two fingers into Katie’s slick warmth and circled her clit harshly with his thumb.

The action caused the woman underneath him to arch up against him and moan, mouth agape and hands latching onto his biceps. Connor thrusted his fingers in her and kept circling her clit, changing the pressure with each pass. His mouth attached to her neck and chest, placing open mouth kisses and nipping her. Her hands shot up and wrapped around his shoulders. One hand rubbing up and down his back, while the other tangled itself in his hair. It wasn’t long before she was squirming under him, trying to move her hips to match the pace his fingers set.

Soon, Connor removed his fingers, Katie whining in disappointment, and sat up on his knees. His hand wraps around his cock and lightly taps in on her clit, causing her to moan. He pulls her closer and puts his thighs under hers, his cock now resting on her soaking cunt. He looks at her.

“Do ya have a condom or are ya on the pill,” he asks, his breathing shaky at the feel of his cock against her pussy.

“Pill,” she gasps and tries to rub the lips of her pussy against his cock, “please Connor….”

He smirks, “please what?”

“Please fuck me,” came her whisper reply.

He ground their hips together and then pulled back, grasping his cock. He lines his throbbing cock with her wet cunt and gives her one last look, a silent question on his face. Katie released a shuddering breath and nodded her consent. Connor grinned and pressed the tip of his cock against her entrance.

“Gonna fuck ya good, sweet girl,” he promised to her.

He slowly eases his thick cock into her, pulling back a little when she hisses in pain. He gently thrusts into her, easing more of his cock into her every few thrusts. Before long, he’s sheathed into her at the hilt, hips meeting, and Katie is gasping at feeling so full and from the slight discomforting pain that was slowly becoming pleasure. Connor leans down over her to kiss her tenderly, trying to distract her from the pain and letting her adjust to his size. Their kissing slowly evolves from tender to passionate, Connor dragging his tongue along her lips, asking for permission. She opens her mouth and Connor shoves his tongue into her mouth. Their tongues swirling each other and Connor reaches a hand down to rub her clit, adding more pleasure.

Katie moaned and moved her hips, trying to indicate that Connor could move again. Connor went from her lips to her neck, mouthing it\ harshly. He leans back up and grips her hips tightly. He pulls his hips back and thrusts hard back into her, using his grip on her hips to slam them against his. Her pleasured cry filled the apartment. Connor set a steady pace, pulling out quickly, then slamming his hips back into her.

“Yes, yes , yes, yes, yes,” she cries out, tightly gripping her sheets. God, he felt so good in her.

He leans down to bury his head in the crook of her neck, grunting and growling out her praises at how well she took his cock. Her arms wrap around him and she scratches her nails down his back between each buck of his hips. His name leaves her lips in between thrusts sounding almost like a prayer. He adjusts the angle of his thrusts. He hits that special spot deep in her and Katie sees stars as she screams out his name, lost in the sensation.

Connor stops for a second to look at her in surprise, checking her expression to make sure he didn’t hurt her accidentally. Seeing him stare, she cupped his face and crashed her lips to his in a heated kiss, rolling her hips to try and encourage him to keep going. Connor groaned and thrusted back into her playfully, matching the roll of her hips.

“Fuckin’ hell,” he whispered to her in awe, “ya feel so good around me cock. You’re so tight.” He squeezes his eyes shut as he thrusts harsh and fast in her for a few thrusts, hitting her clit. He opens his eyes and looks down at her in awe, her head thrown back in pleasure and moaning. “And so beautiful. So gorgeous.”

She feels pressure in her belly. A coiling sensation she was very familiar with and it was getting stronger and tighter as Connor kept thrusting into her, hitting her clit just right. She grips his shoulders and tries to match his pace.

“Connor,” she gasps, “I’m close.” She whines, “so close.”

“Do it,” he groaned against her neck, biting harshly, “cum for me. I want ta feel ya cum on me cock. Do it, sweet girl.”

He gripped her hips harder and thrusted into her faster. She wasn’t the only one who was close to the edge as well. She feels how tight he grips her and, after another star flashing thrust, digs her nails into his back, trying to hold onto something. But Connor’s thrusting was bouncing her under him and caused her nails to drag up and down his back, leaving angry, red lines all over his back.

A few more thrusts, then the coil snaps. Her nails dig into his back and breaking skin, blood slowly oozing out. Her back arched up, pressing her chest against his, legs wrapped tight around Connor’s hips and tossed her head back, releasing one last cry before devolving into moaning and whimpering as Connor kept trying to thrust into her. Her walls latching onto his hardness like a vice. He reached a hand over and started to rub her clit, keeping in time with his thrusts, a few times to try. The overstimulation built her up again and as she climaxed a second time on his cock, he came with her. She felt his release deep inside her, coating her walls as her pussy milked Connor for all he’s worth.

He collapses on her, his head resting in the crook of her neck. His cock still buried deep within her. Her legs drop from around his hips twitching and her hands relaxed, fingers no longer digging her nails into his skin. Their hearts pounding in their chest and laid there panting. Sweat glistened on their bodies and neither wanted to move, enjoying the afterglow in each other’s embrace.

Connor raised his head from her neck to tenderly kiss up her chin, slowly making his way to her lips. He stopped and looked down at her again. Her hair splayed around her head like a halo. Her skin looked like it glowed, eyes closed as she took in deep breaths. She opened her eyes, meeting Connor’s, and smiled tenderly at him. He gave her a smile like she just gave him salvation and cupped her face, bringing his lips down to her lovingly. She returned the kiss and moaned softly. After another minute of making out, Connor shakily props himself on his elbows and slowly pulls his spent and softening cock from her still quivering cunt. Katie couldn’t help groaning at the loss. She felt so empty now.

Connor managed to get himself set on his knees and looked down at her. Her body, from her all over her neck and down to her inner thighs, are littered with all the love bites the two brothers had gifted her. Her arms were lying on the bed on either side of her head and her legs were still spread. He could see the faint signs of bruises forming where his hands had gripped a little too hard. He groaned as he watched his cum leak out of her spent pussy. Fuck, she looked amazing like this.

“What a gorgeous picture ya make,” he whispered in awe, “next time, we need a camera. I’d do anything ta keep a picture of ya like this.”

She blushes and shyly looks to the side, noticing Murphy for the first time since Connor took over.

He looked like a mess, a sexy gorgeous one. He sat in the chair Connor was in the beginning. His cock is in held tightly in his hand, stroking it slowly. Trying to keep himself hard, but not wanting to cum just yet. His face was flushed and sweat was glistening on his beautiful body. His eyes were slowly roving over body, noticing every detail and the steady rise and fall of her chest. Eventually, his eyes lock with hers and he growls, stroking his hardness harshly and quickly for a few strokes before slowing back to its previous snail-pace.

“I second that,” the darker haired twin, growled, “we should see if Rocco has a camera he can let us borrow. She’s a goddamn work of art like this.”

Katie felt her arousal build up again. She blinked in surprise with herself. Where the hell is all this stamina coming from? She’s never came so much and so hard before. And she’s still raring to go. Focusing back on Murphy, she reaches out a hand, beckoning him.

“Want some help,” she said, a coy smile on her face.

Murphy groans at the image. “Ya sure ya aren’t tired yet,” he asked, “we can always pick this up later.”

“I’m sure,” she said, “now fuck me with that cock already. Other wise, I think your brother might take advantage to go another round.” She shoots the other twin a teasing grin.

To prove her point, Connor draped himself back over her body and started attacking her neck again. His hands traveling over her body, memorizing her curves again.

Murphy growled, leapt up from the chair and onto the bed. He shoved his brother off, who laughed at him, and dragged Katie over to him, latching his mouth onto her chest, sucking and biting at her breasts. A hand traveling down to harshly rub her clit, her responding moan escaping her lips.

Connor got off the bed and headed to the bathroom to clean up.

“I’ll let ya two have your fun then,” he said. He laughed when Murphy growled and raised his hand from her clit to flip his brother the bird.

Murphy lays Katie back down on the bed and situates himself between her legs. Both releasing moans as Murphy filled her with his equally massive cock. He didn’t bother with giving her an adjustment period. He was already close and knew that Katie wouldn’t take long to come again with how overstimulated she already is. He sets a brutal pace, making sure to hit her clit as their hips met. Murphy threads his fingers in her hair and tugs at it harshly, dragging her head back. His lips attacker her exposed neck, biting harshly on the sides of them. His name escaped her lips in between her moaning. Her own hands latching onto the man above her, one hand gripping his hair in a tight grip and the other dragging her nails down his back in time with Murphy’s thrusting.

“So beautiful,” he whispered reverence, “and taking me cock so well. You, absolute, gorgeous **_aingeal_**.”

His thrusting started to get erratic. Murphy was so close and he wanted her to fall over the edge with him.

“I’m so close,” he growled, his fingers rubbing her clit once more, “I want ya ta cum with me. Do it.”

The tension building in her was wound up so tight. It was so intense. How was she still able to keep up?

She came with shriek, her nails digging into his back and legs tightening around his hips. Murphy felt her walls clamp down tight on his cock. The sensation had him thrown over the edge with a groan. He hit into her a few more times, still rubbing her clit, to try and prolong their highs a few seconds more. Soon, they came back down, both gasping for breath. Katie’s legs slipped off of his hips and fell to the bed, her arms dropping as well, feeling like weights. Murphy’s head was buried in the crook of her neck, tenderly kissing the skin he could reach in between breaths. He raised himself from her neck and looked down at her, a soft smile on his face. His hand untangling itself from her hair and ran over it, smoothing it out and gently swept any strands from her flushed face. She smiled back at him just as softly. His hand left her hair and reached for her hand. He grasped it gently and brought it to his lips, kissing it tenderly.

Their afterglow basking was interrupted by the sound of plastic and paper bags.

They looked over to see Connor, clad only in his jeans, was already getting into their, most likely, cold food. He felt eyes on him and looked over at his brother and girlfriend, egg roll hanging out his mouth. He blinked at them owlishly.

“What? I’m hungry,” was all he said.

Murphy snorted at his brother’s antics, gaze returning to Katie at her giggles. He leans down for one last kiss.

“Guess we should eat,” he grumbled.

“Don’t worry,” she grinned up at him, “we’ve got all night. At least if you haven’t worn me out too much yet.”

He snorted again and gently pulled his spend cock from her velvety warmth. Katie couldn’t help the groan the slipped out at the loss. She felt empty again. If she had her way, she’d have them in her for hours, if only to keep feeling so satisfyingly full.

Murphy couldn’t help watching the mess he and Connor left in her leak out for a moment, arousal returning slowly. As if reading his mind, Katie sits up and cups Murphy’s face, bringing his gaze back to her and kissed him again.

“Later,” she whispered, in between kisses, “all” kiss “night” kiss “long.” She finished with a longer kiss.

She pulls away, wraps a throw blanket on her bed around her shoulders, and gets off the bed, heading to the bathroom to clean up herself with Murphy following. She grabbed a wash cloth and soaked it with warm water, squeezing out the excess. She turned to Murphy and gave it to him. He cleaned himself up and threw it in the laundry bin in the corner, giving her one last peck before leaving the bathroom. He only put on his jeans, like his brother did, and turned to see her leaning against the threshold of the bathroom, watching him dress. Her pussy leaking his and his brother’s cum down her thighs. He felt himself getting hard again at the sight and his brother didn’t look any better, if Connor’s blatant grab at his clothed cock was anything to go by.

She grinned coyly at them. “Heat up the food,” she said, “I’m gonna clean up.” She turned away, “maybe I’ll shower.” She closes the door.

The brothers snorted, but did as asked. They could hear the water running. Looks like she did opt for a shower. It only lasted a few minutes and by then, they had already heated up the food and got the table set for the three of them. She came out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around her head and using another draped around her like a blanket. She walked by them and headed for her dresser. She pulled out a pair of track shorts and a t-shirt and quickly put them on. She turned to look at the brothers and saw that they were watching her like lions on the hunt. The shorts did very little to hide the hickeys they left behind on her inner thighs. The tents in their jeans very obviously telling her what they wanted to do.

She gave them a mischievous look. “After dinner, boys,” she reminded, “I’m starving.”

She sat in the seat between them and they feasted on Chinese food. They talked about how their day went and about things they plan or need to do over the next couple weeks.

Once they finished their meal and cleaned up, they settled on her couch to watch a movie. It’s as Connor’s turn to pick and as always, it was a spaghetti western. As they watched the movie, the brothers had no problem tag teaming her with their hands. Soon, they weren’t even watching the movie anymore. Too focused on each other and their pleasure.

This would go on all. Night. Long.

Katie woke the next morning, slowly. She felt warm… and a bit sticky? She can see that she is still wearing her t-shirt. How the fuck did it stay on? She feels weight around her and opens her eyes. She sees her arm draped over the shoulders of a dark haired man, his face hidden, and she realizes that its the top of Murphy’s head, his face buried in the crook her neck and breathing softly. His arm draped over her waist, hand resting on the curve of her ass, and the other hand trapped between them, holding onto one of her hands. She felt the weight of another arm and realized that it was Connor. He was spooning her from behind, his arm rested further up her body and wrapped around her chest, keeping her pulled tight against him. His other arm under his head. His face pressed against the back of her shoulder, his breathing slow as well. Her legs were intertwined with theirs.

She smiled softly and closed her eyes, letting herself slowly drift off into a light doze.

She didn’t have anything to do today. She’ll stay like this a little longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH SPICY!!!!! I’m gonna be honest, this is the first time I’ve ever written smut. So I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Like I’ve waited, literally, three weeks to post this. It took everything I had to just not post all the chapters between what I had posted already and the chapters in between just so I could give it to you.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you continue to enjoy my fic.
> 
> I hope you all keep reading and enjoying my fic.
> 
> Be safe!!! I love you!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo!! I got an update to you guys a lot sooner than usual. Another chapter to help finish out this week for all of us.

After that night, their relationship dynamic changed. Not by much, bu just enough. The boys could hardly keep their hands to themselves when it came to her. If Katie didn’t know any better, she would have thought that they had been rabbits in a previous life with how much they would go at it.

Not that she was complaining.

Much.

Despite the addition of sex, their relationship didn’t change all too much. But if she had to say, then their relationship seemed to actually improve. While their relationship seemed strange to an outsider’s point of view, from theirs…. Well, they felt complete.

To Connor and Murphy, they found someone who really saw them and wasn’t put off by their close relationship with each other nor was she against them sharing her, let alone being in an intimate relationship with the both of them.

For Katie, she found two guys who saw her as well. They never made her feel like she wasn’t heard. The brothers weren’t put off by her lack of interest in drinking, or that she had would prioritize her classes instead of dates that they try to plan. They respected her boundaries and her family had already like the brothers after their first meeting with them. And they weren’t even together then. They didn’t even care that she was bisexual and that she likes to dye her hair a literal rainbow. They didn’t even think her eyes were freaky, which had always been a bit of an insecurity to her and used by others in the past to hurt her.

During their many moments together, the boys had admitted to each other privately that they had caught glimpses of marks on her back. But since she was always on her back when they’d have her and that it was dark whenever she walked by it was hard to make out.

Though Connor got the best glimpse when he walked into her apartment while she was dressing to see her in a tank top and saw pale white marks. Some of them kinda looked like it might have been forming letters. The idea that someone had done this deliberately to her made their blood boil.

The boys once asked about it and, instead of answering, Katie changed the subject. Connor and Murphy caught on pretty quick that it was something that she didn’t want to talk about yet. She’d later admit that it’s something that she would like to talk about to them one day, but she felt that it might be too soon into their relationship to talk about it just yet. They could tell that it was something that was very difficult and personal for her, so they let it go for now.

Instead, they focused on helping her get her bags packed for Virginia . Since the Olympics tryouts were in DC, Katie was going to go stay with Dean and Sam who lived in city. Sam, for school, and Dean, so he could help pay for the apartment. She learned from Marcus that her portion of tryouts would span three days. Day one would be archery and shooting. Day two would be fencing. Day three would finish out with taekwondo.

Marcus had also sent her a plane ticket to DC a week before tryouts. The ticket was set for a flight two days before the actual tryouts, so she only had a couple days to spend time with her boyfriends and Rocco. And boy, did they take advantage of every second they could squeeze out of her. Connor and Murphy practically lived at her place for those last few days. Rocco took her out to eat at their favorite restaurants and caught a movie that the two wanted to see together.

Then the day for her to leave came. The three took her to the airport and she said her goodbyes to them.

She tapped her cheeks at the boys. “Gimme some of that Irish luck,” she said, cheekily. They grinned and they each took turns kissing her on the lips. They didn’t care if people saw. All that mattered was them. When Connor released her lips, she held each of their hands. “It’s only a few months,” she said, “I’ll be back before September. Hell, I won’t even be out of the country. It’s in Atlanta for fuck sake.”

“We know,” Murphy said, kissing her hand, “still gonna miss ya like hell.”

“Same,” she echoed to him.

“Go for the gold, sweet girl,” Connor ordered, giving her hand a kiss of his own.

“Oh, I will,” she said with a grin. She checked her watch and frowned. “I have to go.”

“Ok. We’ll be watchin’,” Murphy said.

“Yeah,” Connor continued, “We’ll be rooting for ya all the way!!”

Laughing, she gave the two and Rocco one last kiss on the cheek before heading off for her flight. It was uneventful and that evening, she arrived at Reagan National Airport. Her mother picked her up from the airport and brought her home, where her family had all gathered to welcome her home. The night was spent eating and laughing with her family. When it was all done, she loaded her stuff into Dean’s car, a ’67 Chevy Impala that he fixed up as a teenager, and they drove to their apartment in DC.

After getting there and helping her settle, the three siblings crashed on the couch.

“So,” Dean started, “Mom said that you’re dating Connor AND Murphy.”

“I’m sensing disapproval in you voice,” Katie teased, head leaned back on the the couch and her eyes closed, “my romantic relationships and endeavors are none of your concern or business, Dean. Unless you want to share yours? Have you asked out Cas yet?”

“Honestly, I’m not disapproving it,” Dean said quickly, trying to fight off the blushing on his face while Sam laughed at him, “they’re good guys. I just figured it’d be one or the other. Not both at the same time. How does that even work?”

“Well first off, it’s polygamy,” she explained, “it’s a relationship that involves three or more partners in a relationship. And Connor and Murphy are only with me, not each other. It’s more of a “V” shaped relationship. So, if your worried about some weird incest thing going on, it’s not happening.”

“Ok, but is it serious,” Same asked, curious.

Katie opened her eyes and looked over at her unfairly tall brother. His eyes searched hers, waiting for her answer. Dean was also uncharacteristically quiet as well.

“We’ve only been together for a short while,” she admitted, “but I’d like to think it has the possibility to be.” She shrugged, “I know I care for them. Not love them. Not yet at least.”

“Have they seen your back,” Dean asked, concerned, “if you’re sleeping with them, they had to have seen it.”

“A bit. They’ve asked about it,” she confessed, “but I’m not ready to talk about that part of my life to them yet. Not with how new our relationship is. Don’t know if I’ll ever be.”

Dean wrapped his arm around his sister and pulled her to him. “I know, baby girl,” he murmured to her and kissed her temple, “tell them when your ready.”

They spent the next few hours catching up before finally deciding to call it a night.

She walked towards a large facility, determination oozing from her. Today was the start of her tryouts. Marcus was found waiting for her in the lobby and smiled fatherly at her.

“Ah, there she is,” Marcus greeted her.

“Hey, Marcus,” she greeted with a grin, “when do I start?”

“Soon, let’s get you ready and warmed up,” he said, motioning her to follow him.

It wasn’t long before she stood on a walkway that overlooked two indoor ranges. One was for archery and the other was set up for shooting. Currently, she wore a purple tank top, black tights, jean shorts, and sneakers. Her hair was put in a braid. Her blonde hair was more prominent and created a cool fade into her rainbow hair. She hadn’t redone her hair in case Marcus told her that she needed to change her hair back to it’s natural color for the Olympics. She wore a leather belt as well for when she went to go do her shooting tryouts later. Attached to the leather belt was an mp3 player that she brought with her specifically to listen to while waiting for her turn. She noticed a lot of cameras and reporters that came to watch the tryouts. Some of them were pointed at the walkway where she and other tryout contenders were preparing. She pulled on her archery gloves and double checked that her earplugs were in her pocket.

She noticed that some of the cameras were focusing on her. Guess the reporters were talking about her on their shows. She didn’t give them much of her attention, focusing on the other competitors already making their attempts. She was in the next wave.

She noticed movement in the corner of her eye and looked over. Looks like some reporters managed to sneak into the competitor waiting area. She frowned when one of woman and her cameraman made a beeline straight to her. She focused her gaze back on the ranges below, music still playing. She didn’t come here for an interview. She came here to compete.

The reporter tried to gain her attention and Katie tried to politely decline, gesturing to the ranges below so the reporter could tell that she was trying to pay attention to the competitors. She thought that the reporter caught the gist and would leave her be, so she looked away to watch the activity below.

What she wasn’t expecting was the reporter to grab her shoulder, spin her around to face her, and rip the headphones off her head. Katie looked the woman in surprise and noticed that the camera light was red. This lady just laid hands on her on live television.

“Did you just seriously do that,” Katie asked, her mind still processing that this was happening.

“Tanya Evergreen,” the woman introduced herself like she didn’t just lay hands on an 18-year-old, “I’m with Channel 4 news. I was hoping to get insight into the mindset of the youngest Olympian to ever compete.” Katie blinked at her and Tanya kept talking, “You made history four years ago by being the youngest competitor all round, the youngest woman to compete in the Olympics, and the youngest Olympian to win gold. How does the mindset that you have back then apply to now? Do you feel like you might be able to compete this year too?”

Katie gave her a deadpanned look and decided to play along. Tanya just won’t like how she answers.

“No comment.” Katie cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Well,” Tanya seemed to not get the hint, “do you feel that you are mentally up to the task given the issues you’ve been having for the last two years?”

Katie stare at her incredulously. “Excuse me?”

“Well, a source from Boston told me that you’ve been having issues with a stalker. You’ve apparently moved around Boston several times in almost two years,” Tanya explained, “this had to have taken away time you could’ve used to train for this.”

Katie was shocked that this lady was digging into her life like this, but she kept her expression schooled so as to not give Tanya….. well whatever it is that she’s trying to go for.

“Or maybe this has to do with your kidnapping when you were only 10,” Tanya threw out, “sources claim that you were kidnapped. Apparently, your kidnapper tried to kill you as well. Is competing in the Olympics your way of showing yourself how far you’ve come since that incident?”

Katie tried to keep her cool, but the look she was giving to the fucking idiot reporter would have killed this lady 1000 times over. Other competitors and even a few of the other reporters that snuck had been listening to Tanya’s questioning and several camera people were broadcasting it live to their channels. Katie didn’t notice them. She only saw red.

Before Tanya could ask another question, Katie punched her. Tanya fell to the ground and clutched her face. When she moved her hands, blood was seen pouring down her nose. She looked up at the girl in surprise and anger.

“How dare you,” Tanya started.

“No,” Katie snarled, her body visibly shaking in fury, “how dare you go digging into my past like that. Bringing up a horribly, traumatic incident in my life to get your stupid ratings for your fugly ass. How dare you and these other reporters come here where myself and other competitors are trying to get ourselves mentally squared away so we can perform to our fullest. How dare you think that a traumatic time in my life was fucking appropriate to talk about. Here. Or like AT ALL!!” she yelled that last line. “Fuck you, fuck your interview, fuck your holier than thou attitude, and fuck your show. You,” she pointed at Tanya, her cameraman, and the other media personnel, “and the rest of you, get the fuck outta here before I show you exactly the kind of mindset I have for competing.” She looked around the room. “Where the fuck is security? These fucktards shouldn’t even be here.”

As if on queue, security guards showed up and escorted the reporters out of the room. Marcus, who had showed up with the security guards, came over to check on her.

“Are you alright,” he asked, looking her over to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

She looked at him tiredly. “I’m fine,” she answered, “but I wouldn’t be surprised if that Tanya bitch tried to press charges.”

“Well the whole thing was broadcasted live,” he informed her, her eyes widening in shock, “the whole country saw that she laid hands on you first and had decided to talk about an inappropriate topic with you. As soon as I saw the reporter talk to you, I had called up security. I’m sorry they didn’t get here before she started talking about that incident.”

Marcus was aware that she had a kidnapping incident at one point, but never had the full story. He never asked and she never told. He also felt that it was none of his business, especially since when just mentioning it in front of her showed just how traumatic the whole thing had been for her. One of the reasons her parents even agreed to let her compete was if Marcus did everything he could to ensure her safety while she was competing. She still had her parents go with her, but the added security that Marcus was able to provide made them, and her, feel better about competing.

“I’m sorry this happened,” Marcus apologizes to her sincerely, “if you don’t want or can’t bring yourself to compete, I can talk with the officials and see if they’ll let you tryout a bit later and without the paparazzi around to harass you.”

“No, I’ll be fine,” she admits, “just let me have a moment to recollect myself. There’s no point in doing this without the media because they’re gonna be everywhere at the Olympics itself. After today, most of the country and soon the damn world are going to see that interview. I just need to get over it.” She wraps her arms around herself and rubs them to ground herself. She really didn’t want to slip into a memory flash right now. She just wanted to compete.

“Okay,” he conceded, “but if you feel even a little off, just let me know. It’s okay if you don’t go or do all the events this time around.”

She gave Marcus a grateful smile, but shook her head. She’ll be fine. She needs to be.

Connor, Murphy, and Rocco were watching the USA Olympic team tryouts and saw the interview with Katie. The commentators back at the main studio were practically dissecting the whole thing. Although, it seemed that the reporters were on Katie’s side.

“Do ya think that kidnappin’ has somethin’ ta do with her back as well,” Murphy asked his brother.

“Maybe,” Connor replied, “let’s wait till after her tryouts. She said yesterday that she’d call after she finished them all. We’ll ask about it and if she tells us she’s not ready ta talk about it, then we don’t press.”

“I just can’t believe that that happened to her,” Rocco added. He didn’t bother asking about her back as that was not something she discussed with him and unless she told him herself, he wasn’t going to press the brothers about it, “and when she was just a kid too. That shit sticks with you.” Murphy nodded his head in agreement and ran a hand through his hair.

“Let’s just focus on supporting her,” Connor said, drawing their attention, “she’s in the next wave. Let’s just keep putting positive vibes out there for her and be ready to cheer for her when she get’s sent ta the Olympics.”

Katie walked onto the range, her headphones still on, but she had one ear exposed so she could hear everything around her. Since it was just tryouts, they weren’t too strict about what they could bring to the range so long as it didn’t endanger anyone or gave her the opportunity to cheat.

She went the the area of the rang designated for her. A table with a bow and a set of arrows laid out for her. She carefully checked the arrows over for imperfections and checked the string and pull of the bow. She paused her music and pulled her headphones down to hand around her neck. An official came to oversee her attempt and gave her instructions. When the official finished giving their instructions, he indicated to start.

“Do your best,” he finished. She nodded her head in thanks.

She pulled out her earplugs and carefully inserted them into her ear canal. She was planning to only use them for shooting, but after her earlier incident with the press, she wanted to focus.

She nocked an arrow and drew back. She lined up her shot and released the arrow. It flew gracefully through the air and landed dead center in the target. Just like she wanted. That’s how the rest of the archery tryout went. Her hitting the center of her target, one arrow after another. She ended up with a near perfect score. She definitely was doing archery at the Olympics. She grinned and the official held up a hand to high five her.

She walked off the archery range to head for the indoor gun range. She missed the feel of a gun in her hands and wanted to get it over with.

The first shooting tryout was a mock pistol shooting at 35 meters. She approached her section and reviewed the weapons on the table very carefully. She made sure that there wasn’t too much gunpowder build up that might affect her score and that everything still moved with ease. She loaded up clips with bullets as all competitors were allowed to do.

When she was ready, she made her attempt. She saw ten targets lined up in a row. She had to hit the center. The closer to the center, the more points she’d gain with ten points per target being the max she could get. This let her get a max of 100 points all together. She just needed to do a good run and score in the upper 90s to stay.

When given the signal to start, she raised her gun. Lining up her shots, she took a breath and released it. When her shoulders dropped enough in the release, she held it there and made her shots. All ten of the them. She got her score…. 97.6. Good, she can move on. She removed the clip and put the safety on the gun, resting it back on the table. She left her section to move onto the rest of her shooting tryouts.

She finished the rest of her shooting tryout with ease. And soon she was done. If her last two tryouts over the next two days went just as well, then Katie felt like the Olympics will be a breeze. Okay, she might be overselling herself, but no one could blame her for being confident in herself.

The next day rolled around and she was gearing up for her fencing tryout. She studied her opponent carefully. Observing her for any weaknesses. She noticed the the woman was favoring her left leg despite being a righty.

Soon they stood before each other and started their match. They went back and forth in their strikes. Parrying each other’s attacks and countering. They were tied in points and their current bout was the match point. It took a moment, but Katie saw her opening. She countered a thrust, spun around her opponent, and jabbed them in the back with her foil. She won.

After a few more matches like that, she finished and would be among several other athletes that would be competing in the summer. Now all she had left was taekwondo.

Her matches there were just as challenging as her fencing tryouts as this was a more physically demanding event than shooting or archery. And while she had spent the months leading up to today training for this, that didn’t mean she didn’t struggle. Each opponent was tougher than the last and once or twice she thought that she was going to lose. In the end, she qualified for the Olympics.

Since the first incident, the reporters were watched closely by security like hawks and were not permitted to speak with competitors unless they wanted to. A few reporters tried flagging her down, including Tanya Evergreen. Of course, Katie ignored them. Though she did punch another reporter when one of them grabbed her shoulder while she was listening to her music. After that, security was more or less protecting them from her, since she made it clear that if anyone tried interacting with her without her consent, she was gonna deck them.

She was able to leave the facility unmolested, but that didn’t stop some of the more ambitious reporters from following her. They threw out questions that she couldn’t hear over her headphones, microphones thrusted into her face to try and get some kind of comment out of her. She’d move her head to dodge the microphone and continue walking to where Sam and Dean were waiting for her. She managed to spin around the reporters and took off at a light jog, latching herself onto her brothers to greet him. She took her headphones off to talk to them, in plain view of the reporters to fuck with them.

“Hey, Dean. Hey, Sam,” she greeted, “we still up for Five Guys today?” She’d been craving a cheeseburger all day.

Dean laughed and kissed her temple. “Yeah, we’re still on,” he said, Sam opening her door for her. She climbed in and her tallest brother closed the door just as a couple reporters tried flocking to her since she took her headphones off. He blocked their view of her and glared at them as they decided to stick their stupid microphones in his face now.

“Are you her boyfriend,” one reporter tried, “how do you think she’ll handle this year’s competition?”

“Older brother,” he corrected, as Dean got in the car on the driver’s side, “don’t touch my brother’s car or he’ll sue.” That got them to back away a few steps. Sam got in his brother’s car and Dean took off as soon as the door closed.

Dean drove them to the Five Guys and the two walked in. “You’re usual,” Dean asked her, “Sammy has a half day today, so that’s why he’s joining us for lunch.”

“Thought you were going vegetarian,” she asked, grinning.

“Mostly,” Sam explained, “it’s a healthier diet, but every once in a while I won’t say no to eating meat. I’m just restricting it so every now and then. Like I’ll have a burger today, but then I probably won’t the next couple weeks or so. I mean really, do you think I could stop eating meat when that would mean missing out on Mom’s turkey on Thanksgiving?”

“So your more like Andy and Zara,” she compared. They ate a mostly vegetarian diet. Andy would eat meat on holidays. Zara usually stuck with her diet.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “I just eat more meat than Andy though.”

“A shame really. I was hoping to have more turkey to myself if you went full vegetarian,” Dean teased. Katie leaned into him, snickering. Sam rolled his eyes at them.

As they were ordering, a reporter managed to find them there. It wasn’t just any reporter, it was the fucking Tanya Evergreen lady. Katie started getting really nervous when the reporter started approaching her and her brothers. She had a really smug look on her face too. Maybe she should get a restraining order against her. The cameraman behind her looked nervous and unsure.

Dean saw the reporter making her way over and moved to stand between her and his sister. Sam squared up next to him forming a wall between their sister and her. He felt Katie press against his back clutching his shirt tightly.

“Look lady,” Dean said, holding a hand between him and the reporter, “this is not appropriate. We are not at the event. This isn’t the tryouts. This is a girl and her two brothers going out for lunch together. This is family time. Please leave our sister alone. She doesn’t want to do an interview. She isn’t obligated to give you one. She isn’t obligated to give you her time when she has other things she would rather do.”

“It’s freedom of the press,” Tanya pressed, rudely, “you are infringing on first amendment rights.”

“Not really,” Sam said, “she’s also not obligated to do the interview. Even less since you grabbed her and yanked her headphones off her head a couple days ago. That’s assault. If anything, you should be happy my sister decided to not press charges against you.”

“I did not assault her,” the woman defended, lamely.

“Lady, you grabbed her shoulder when she didn’t want to talk to you,” Dean snarled, puffing his chest out in anger, “the whole fricking country saw you on live television grab her. Then you have the audacity to try and get her to talk about a traumatic part of her life that was, is, and always will be NOBODY’S FUCKING BUSINESS.”

Sam felt Katie press herself against his back harder and she started shaking. He subtly managed to get the two of them to take a couple steps away from the ruckus Dean was causing to keep the reporter’s focus away from Katie. Sam was able to get her to release his shirt so he could turn around and look at her. Katie was still shaking and her breathing was ragged, but quiet. Her eyes were screwed shut, tears flowing, and her hands had dug themselves into her hair.

“Hey,” Sam spoke softly to her, “you’re okay. Everything’s okay. Dean’s gonna keep this lady away. Our food should be ready soon. We’ll just take it to go, okay?” He could only watch worriedly as she tried to fight off the panic attack trying to set in. “Can I touch you,” he asked. When she nodded her consent, he worked to gently remove her hands from her hair and pulled her to him so she could hold onto him instead. She wrapped her arms tightly around her older brother and buried her face in his chest, trying to hide herself in his embrace as much as possible. Dean and Tanya still arguing behind him.

Other patrons could only watch the circus going on in front of them. A couple of them moved to try and put themselves between the reporter and man, trying to help separate them and maybe get the reporter to leave.

Soon, their number was called and Dean moved quickly to grab their food and drinks and get the three of them out the door, Tanya still hot on their heels. Sam got Katie in the car first and made sure that Tanya didn’t try to force her way in. Soon, he and Dean were in the car, Sam holding their stuff and Katie had the drinks. Dean pulled out their spot, but Tanya stood in front of his Impala. She had a manic look in her eyes and Katie felt the fear in her bubbling to the surface as she could only stare at the woman.

“I’m gonna get that interview,” Tanya snarled, “now get out of the car.”

What no one notices was that the cameraman had been broadcasting live the whole incident. Some other people seeing this whole thing came over and helped get the reporter out of the way so Dean could drive out of the parking lot and get the three of them home.

Back in Boston, Connor and Murphy had to be talked down by Rocco from trying to go to DC so they could throttle this woman. The camera was broadcasting the whole incident. The anchors at the studio could only watch in horror and shock as their coworker harassed this girl. The camera zoomed in on Katie and pretty much the every person watching could see how terrified she was.

“Look, it shows that the car was able to leave,” Rocco pointed out, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but wait till she calls you. Then you can ask if she’s okay. She did great at her tryouts. Now she just has another stalker in the form of this crazy reporter. Dean and Sam are with her and they haven’t let this lady get close enough to even touch her.” Rocco looked at his watch. “I have to go,” he said, getting up and heading for the door, “just wait by the phone for her. She said she was going to call after her tryouts.”

The brothers frowned and relented. Plopping on their couch and waited by their phone for their girl to call them. This is twice that this Tanya woman has harassed her and all it’s done is make them worry about her even more.

Time seemed to drag as Connor and Murphy waited for their phone to ring. Murphy had resorted to pacing their apartment when the phone rang. Connor snatched it from his cradle on the floor and answered.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hi, Connor,” came the muted greeting, it was Katie, “how was your day?”

“Fine,” he answered, “what about you? The news is blowin’ up about that Tanya lady and her interactions wit’ ya. Are ya okay? Do ya want Murph and I ta come down? We’ll be more than happy ta play security guard for ya.”

Murphy snagged the phone from his brother and put it on speaker. “We can even do a little role play and act like you’re a groupie we caught and in order for us ta not throw ya out is ya fuck us,” he teased over the line. Connor gave him a thumbs up. He was down for it.

Katie’s laughter filled the apartment and the relief sagged heavy on their shoulders. If she was laughing, then she’s doing better.

“You don’t need to do that,” she appeased, then she took a sultry tone, “but hold onto that last idea. We might do that when I come home to you.”

Connor and Murphy couldn’t help the wide grins that grew on their faces. She thought of them as home.

“So how were tryouts,” Connor asked, “Murph and I were only able ta watch bits and pieces and we pretty much missed your tryouts since they took place durin’ work. We also saw the one interview where ya decked that Tanya woman in the face. Nice punch by the way. Rocco told us ya did great, but we wanted ta hear it from ya instead.”

“Well, other than reporters acting like they are entitled to my life story, it was great,” she replied, “after my taekwondo tryouts, Dean and Sam wanted to take me out to lunch to celebrate, but well… you saw how that went.”

“We’re sorry that happened ta, sweet girl,” Murphy comforted, “we really do wish we could do more for ya.”

“Honestly, just talking to you right now is helping a lot,” she told them, “it really is.”

“There’s something we wanted ta ask ya about,” Connor confessed, “we understand if ya don’t’ want ta or ya not ready ta talk about it…”

“Is it about the kidnapping that Tanya mentioned?”

“Yes,” was the Irishman’s guilty reply. He didn’t want to put her on the spot but his curiosity and worry were killing him.

“I do want to tell you,” Katie admitted, “I just didn’t want to talk about it because our relationship is so new and I haven’t been ready to talk about it. When I am ready, and I kinda think I will be eventually, I’d rather not do it over the phone, Con.”

“Okay,” he relented, “I won’t press. I’m sorry if I upset ya, aingeal.”

The three talked about what had been happening on their sides of life. The boys catching Katie up on shenanigans they got into back in Boston and she told them all about her tryouts and answered questions to help clarify how the event was broken down.

“Are ya coming home now that tryouts are done or do they have ya stay there until the Olympics,” Murphy asked. He missed her.

“No, I stay here,” she answered, “Good news is that it’s in Atlanta. So no weird timezones. I’ll just be an hour behind.” She sighed, a creaking sound heard through the phone. “We’ll be able to talk at our normal times. Albeit it might have to be a little later for you two since I’ll be competing and god knows what else I’ll probably be dragged off to do.”

They stayed on the phone, talking for hours. By the time Dean went to check on her, she was asleep in her bed. The phone lying next to her head and the dial tone being the only sound in the room. Dean chuckled softly and took the phone, putting it back in it’s cradle. He pulled the covers over her and gently kissed her temple. He reached over and turned off the lamp on the nightstand and left the room, closing the door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, more drama. I’m stuck between making Tanya just a pain for this part, but I also kinda had a few ideas for her to be a pain in the ass for OC in future parts as well. Still haven’t decided on which to do. I think she just might be for this part exclusively.
> 
> Also, YAY were getting hints to more back story for OC... get it BACK story. Anyway, there won’t be anymore development with that until AFTER the olympics chapter (next chapter). There’s also a fun little cameo in that next one too. You can tell me in the comments what you thought of it when it comes out next week.
> 
> Also, let me know if you figured out where I got marcus’s namesake from. Yes, it is a movie character reference. No, I won’t give you hints.
> 
> And YAY more cutesy interactions with the boys and some sibling love for OC from her brothers. If I hadn’t mentioned it before or if anyone hadn’t figured it out yet, yes Sam and Dean are based off of their character namesakes in Supernatural..... which also means we have Cas as well and yes Destiel is gonna happen in this story. Fuck CW. Although, honestly, I didn’t really care if Destiel became canon or not. If it did, I would have thought ‘it’s about damn time’ and I really didn’t like how half-assed the writers ended the show.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that you all continue to keep reading. Also, can’t wait for TWD Season 10C to come out.
> 
> Be safe!!! Love you all!!
> 
> Also, in case I never mentioned, if you ever want to chat, you can find me on tumblr: fandomsaremykryptonite
> 
> Hope you all continue to enjoy reading my fic!! Thanks for the love!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE’VE MADE IT TO 8 CHAPTERS HOLY FUCK YEAH!!!!!! So, on top of writing my story, I’ve been doing a lot of rework on OC’s backstory. In a few chapters, we’re really going to get into a huge incident in her childhood (ya know, the one I’ve been hinting for a couple chapters now). Because of this rework, it’s given me inspiration for scenes that take place further in my series that I literally can’t wait for you all to get to as well.
> 
> Seriously, for Travis and another OC character I’m using, I’ve got some serious development specifically for OC. It is going to HURT!!! And be really satisfying, at least I think it will. I’m sure you all might tell me if it sucks or not. Lol.
> 
> Also, if you have AO3 set to send notifications for when my fic updates, be warned. When i got to specific parts of my story, I realized I didn’t add specific tags to warn readers about specific topics that might be unsettling/triggering to them or might turn them off from the story. So please forgive me if AO3 starts blowing up your email with notifications from me.
> 
> Also, big shout out to BlackheartedPhoenix for being super awesome again. We’ve been brainstorming our fics to each other and helping bounce plot ideas for our stories and reworking that will help make our fics something we hope you all will enjoy just as much as we have creating and writing it.
> 
> Thanks for all the support so far and I hope you all enjoy this chapter and continue to read my series as it comes out.
> 
> Enjoy!!1 <3

The next couple of months are spent in a state of exhaustion. Katie felt so exhausted from the training that Marcus was having her and the rest of the Olympic team. She swore up and down to her boys one night that she could feel it in her bones. That didn’t mean she didn’t like it. She missed the burn in her muscles when she’d get stronger. Her body had been starting to soften and she never had the time to find a new dojo in Boston to go spar at.

She stayed with Dean and Sam for the duration of her stay in DC. She loved her brothers and took every opportunity to spend time with them. Katie would also bug the shit out of Dean on when he was going to ask out Cas. Cas, or Castiel, was a close friend of Dean’s. Cas’s family lived across the street from hers. So, the two had known each other since they were kids and Dean had fallen head over heels for him. Though those feelings didn’t manifest until towards the end of his senior year of high school. Dean was bisexual like her. She had seen him date and even met some of the other partners he’s had. Watching her brothers date also helped her learn the signs of what kind of partners she definitely would not and should not date. So, she guessed it helped that Dean was 7 years older than her and Sam being 5 years older.

There was Jo. Katie liked her. Her mom was the owner of the Roadhouse, a popular biker bar on the edge of town where their parents lived. However, they broke up when Jo went to college. Dean and Jo didn’t want to do a long distance relationship. They still talk every once in a while and she’s in Dean’s band as well. She switches between bass guitar and keyboard.

There was also Lisa. She was okay and Katie liked her too, but she and Dean had such different schedules that they hardly saw each other that the relationship kinda fizzled out and they parted mutually as well. She’s got a kid now last Katie heard.

There was this guy Crowley that Dean had gone on a few dates with, but it never went far and he was kind of a creep. Katie was happy that that relationship didn’t last long. Sam agreed with her. There were a few others that Dean had one offs with, but they were mostly one night stands or fuck buddies.

Dean was also the first person she came out to. When she was sure that she was bisexual, she went to Dean and he gave her all sorts of advice for dating and how to stay safe when running into assholes.

Sam was straight as an arrow and was engaged to this really nice girl named Jessica. They met when Sam was in high school and started dating a couple months later. Katie didn’t like her in the beginning because…. Well….. she didn’t like sharing her brothers and when they first started dating, she was still hurting and scared from the incident. However, Jess didn’t get annoyed or angry with her. She was patient with the youngest Halestrom sibling and was one of the few people that made her feel like she could trust people that were not part of her family circle. Jess would also call her every two weeks to check on her after she moved to Boston. Katie told Sam that if he didn’t propose to Jess soon, then Katie was gonna call ‘fair game’ and steal her from him and marry Jess herself. Two hours later, Jess calls her up laughing her ass off. Apparently, Sam took that to heart and proposed to her that afternoon with a plastic flower ring.

Katie stopped her internal monologue and stared at her journal confused. Where the fuck was she going with this again? Oh, wait she remembered.

So her training was intense. She liked it. And before she even knew it, she was in Atlanta. She was about to go out for the opening ceremony. She could hear the cheering crowds and the people counting down until they reached zero. Fireworks going off as the countdown was completed. She looked at her fellow US Olympians and couldn’t help the excited smiles they shared with each other. The boys told her the night before that they planned to get off early so they could get home in time to watch the opening ceremony and see if they could spot her amongst the other competitors. After checking with Marcus and reading over the dress code regulations, she had redone her rainbow. She might’ve wanted to make herself easier to spot. Though, she didn’t tell them. She didn’t want to make it easier for her boys. She’s gotta have her fun too.

She listened to the music playing and couldn’t help the rush of excitement through her veins. Her mother told her that she was going to record the opening ceremony for her to watch when she came home.

She heard the drums playing and couldn’t help dancing in place a little. Her fellow Olympians swayed along with her. Then the Olympic theme for Atlanta played. Katie absolutely loved it. She was a huge John Williams fan and she hoped to run into him for an autograph at least, or a picture.

Then the drums came back after the orchestra band finished their piece. It wasn’t long before the military band started playing and knew that it was almost time for the national anthem. The presidential theme echoed to where she was waiting. Man, these ceremonies are really long. Ah, there’s the national anthem. Even though she was only getting the echoes, chills still went down her back in excitement. Another choir was singing, welcoming the world to Atlanta. She was starting to remember why she both loved and hated these ceremonies. While they had a lot of cool segments going on, they took FOREVER.

She looked at her watch…. Had it really only been a half hour. She almost wanted to see if she could catch a nap. Oh, there was Gladys Night. She had a pretty voice. There’s James Earl Jones too. Nice. Guess the butterfly?? Segment was going on. Oh, Jazz music and choir was playing. Wow, that torch bearer was taking their sweet time get here.

She perked up again at the change in music. The first Olympics segment started. She really liked the music playing too. The Egyptian undertones really gave it an exotic feel to it. She remembered seeing some of the costumes for it an and getting really excited about it. She couldn’t wait to rewatch the ceremony. As the segment came to a close, the music from the start of the ceremony started up again. Soon, she heard the announcer listing off the locations of the previous Olympics. It was time for her and the other competitors from all over the world to be presented.

She adjusted her hold on the American flag she would be carrying out when it was her team’s turn to walk out. She also didn’t tell the boys that either. Man, she couldn’t wait to hear them flip out about this. She also couldn’t wait to see the media team try and list all the events she was participating in under her name.

Since the US was the hosting country, her group would be called last and boy, were they welcomed with such fanfare. Dressed in a white blouse, black slacks, black kitten heels, black with white polka dots scarf, red coat, and hat like the other women representing the US, she would have been hard to spot even with her rainbow hair. But since she was the flag bearer, she would be leading the group around the track.

With a face-splitting grin, she waved at every camera she walked by, blowing a kiss the each one. Music written by the famous John Phillip Sousa played as they made their way around. She might’ve also embellished her role with the flag. Waving it around excitedly every couple meters. She placed the flag she carried in it’s spot around the little impromptu stage in the center of the field.

When her team reached their spot on the field, the Atlanta committee director for the Olympics and the Olympics director came down to the little stage in the middle of the field to give their speeches. It was all pretty and official. Freaking fluff that bored the girl to death. Then more flowery hand holding when the President Clinton stood up from his stand and gave a pretty flowery speech and then the Olympic flag was brought in, led around the track, and hung up. After that, guys with long poles that had fake doves run out. While the effect is cool, Katie thought that they kinda looked a little dumb. When they were finished, the choir sang another pretty song. Katie was starting to realize why she really didn’t care to care for opening ceremonies…. There is so much goddamn fanfare. She couldn’t wait to get back to her hotel room and pass out. Her events weren’t for another few days, so she didn’t have to be anywhere. Which means she could sleep in. Maybe explore Atlanta for a bit.

Then as the choir faded out to a volume to that of background voices, Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech and more choir music. After that, the announcer’s started a segment that honored the Olympians in the past. They started naming off past athletes from previous Olympics. Including a 92 year old gymnast from Slovenia. Ok, she had to admit. That was pretty cool. She wondered if that would be her one day.

Soon, the torch bearer arrived in the stadium. The crowd went wild for the man as he came into the stadium and showed up on the stage. He ran down it and onto the track. He stopped to greet another athlete, who latched onto the torch and the two ran down the track together holding the torch. They stopped to pass the flame to another torch bearer who ran around down the track as well. The torch bearer reached the hill she needed to clim and made it to the top so she could pass the flame to fucking MUHAMMAD ALI?!?! Holy shit that’s awesome. She’s definitely gonna try and get an autograph from him first chance she gets.

He lit another torch that flew up to the the flame holder high up on a stand and the flame was lit. It was a pretty cool effect. Then, an athlete and a judge gave the Olympic oath on behalf of all athletes and judges to compete fairly and honorably. After that, Celine Dion came out and sang to the crowd watching.

After her, more music from the beginning sounded. The dancers from the start came out in their crazy outfits and with the huge drum sets. Now she’s starting to see what she might’ve missed form the beginning. People came zip lining onto the field. It was crazy. After they were done with their bit, Jessie Norman came out and sang a song inspired by the Olympic motto as part of the close of the ceremony. She had a beautiful voice, but she never cared for opera. Doesn’t mean she didn’t enjoy it. After her performance, a huge fireworks show started. Very pretty and loud. The games had begun and the ceremony was finished. She followed the other athletes as they exited off the field.

It didn’t take long to get bak to her hotel room. Even though it wasn’t even 10 yet, she felt exhausted. She glanced over at the schedule on the hotel desk for when she would be competing. Her events were spaced out through the weeks thankfully. She had an event on each different day. Though, she did note that two of her events were on the same day. One of her shooting events, 50 meters in three positions, took place the same day as her taekwondo event. Thankfully, the shooting event would be in the morning and the taekwondo event was in the afternoon. Two events in one day? She smirked. She was looking forward to the challenge.

Even though she had planned to go straight to bed, she decided that she wanted to call her boys. It wasn’t that late and while tired, she figured she talk to them for a little bit.

She dialed their number by heart, hoping that they’d be home instead of the pub.

Phone rang only twice before it was answered.

“What,” came the gruff answer. Sounds like the boys had been drinking.

“Wow, Murph,” she teased, “that the greeting you gonna give to your girl?”

“Katie,” came the response she was wanting. She could practically see that boyish grin of his and the affection in his voice. Noise in the background indicated that Connor was joining wherever Murphy was to listen in too. “We saw ya in the openin’ ceremony. Ya looked gorgeous as always. Can’t wait ta see ya compete. When’s ya first event?”

“Tomorrow,” she replied, “Shooting. 10 meters with an air rifle. Should be fun.”

“How’s that broken down,” Connor asked.

“We’re given targets and shoot. Judges count up points and the 8 with the highest scores move onto the next round. The remaining 8 do another round of shooting and then the 3 with the highest scores are awarded their corresponding medals,” she explained, “it’s the same a for the rest of my shooting events and my archery event.”

“What ‘bout fencing and taekwondo,” Murphy butted back in,

“Fencing and taekwondo are 1v1 bouts,” she replied, “For fencing, I’ll face off against someone and we’ll go until one of us reaches 15 points. Taekwondo is similar too. But it’s a bit different. We get three rounds, two minutes each. In that time, the winner is the one who lands the most kicks on their opponent. It basically goes that way like a normal tournament.”

“Is your schedule crazy?”

“A little. I’ve got events back to back up to the 27th, then I got a couple days until my last event on the 31st and then three days later is the closing ceremony,” she explained, “So I’ll have a couple days to myself in Atlanta.” She laughed a little looking around the hotel room. “You know I kinda wished I’d asked you two to come along.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well,” she smiled, “I got this nice hotel room with a big bed.” She walked over to the window. “With a lovely view of the city. And it’s all…. To…. Myself….” She left that in the air. “It’s almost lonely.” She was 100% teasing them.

“We could be there tomorrow,” was Murphy’s immediate reply. Connor verbalized his agreement in the background with knocking something over in an attempt to pack, she guessed.

“Nah,” she dismissed, “don’t bother. Besides, absence makes the heart grow fonder. It’s only for a while longer. Just think…… when I get back, I’m gonna have a hard time keeping my hands to myself if you know what I mean.”

“I think we have an idea,” Connor said, amusement in his voice, “be lookin’ forward ta that.”

She grinned and sat in the chair by the window. An hour later, she’s hanging up and getting herself ready for bed. She’s looking forward to seeing what the competition is like this time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days flew by. Each competition was as challenging as the next, but she did pretty good considering. Eight days of events was taking it’s toll on her though. The first two days were great. She had the 10 meter air rifle event and the 10 meter air pistol event. She won gold for both events. Her foil and epee events suffered a little. She won silver for both though. Same with her taekwondo event. But she figured that she could’ve done worse considering she hadn’t kept it up in almost two years. So she’ll consider this a win still. Her double trap event ended with silver and she figured it could have been worse too. Her 50 meter rifle and 25 meter pistol events went amazing though. She received gold for those events and she had to hold herself together. She had to stop herself from dancing after receiving her medals on live television. All she had left was her archer event, but she had a couple days before it. Then after the archery event she had a couple more days to herself before the closing ceremony.

Marcus told her that the team would go back to DC and the medal winners would have dinner with the president for their fantastic performance.

It was the evening after she had won silver for her taekwondo and she wanted to see the city for a bit. She told the boys that she’d probably go play tourist for a bit after her event instead of holing herself up in her room. They were fine with it and told her to go have fun.

So that’s what she did.

She had a lovely dinner and was walking around the square with all the people who came to watch the Olympics. She could see a band performing on the stage. She mingled in crowd, dancing around people in time with the music.

She manages to find a break from the crowd and hears loud laughter nearby. She turns to the laughter and sees a group of people surrounding one of the many drink stands that also sold alcohol. Most of them wore leather vests with their outfits and we cheering on a man shotgunning his beer.

Rolling her eyes and realizing she was a bit thirsty as well, went up to the stand to buy a water. Squeezing past some of the bikers and gently asking them to let her pass, she was able to approach the clerk.

“Nice night, huh,” she greeted, smiling.

The clerk looked her up and down, “aren’t you a little young to order beer,” he asked, a bit snobbishly. She looked at him unimpressed. Seriously? Did the guy forget that he has other stuff to sell right? The bikers quieted down a bit so they could listen in. Is this kid trying to order beer?

“Actually, I was hoping for a bottle of water,” she sassed back, “being so short, I’m a little closer to Hell than most and dehydration is practically the devil himself.” She held up her cash and pointed at the sign listing his merchandise requested for water. “Is that the only price or is there tax included?”

The roaring laughter of the biker group behind her made it hard for her to hear the clerk’s response, but him flushing red in embarrassment was pretty amusing to her. She paid and received her water, winked at the group of bikers which sent them into another round of laughter, and as she was trying to leave, she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders. She felt herself being redirected towards the biker group.

“Now ain’t ya funny one,” came the drawl. She looked up and saw the face of the graying man from earlier. He had a square jaw and his hair was cut in that familiar haircut she had seen on her father. So, she guessed that he served in the military for a time. He certainly carried himself that way. She could also faintly see the metal chain around his neck that definitely held his dog tags. His blue eyes were focused on her and widened as their eyes met.

“Holy shit,” he went, “ya got the craziest eyes ah’ve ever seen. Is that them colored contacts?”

“No, these are my real eye colors,” she admitted. She forced herself to stay relaxed. If this goes sideways, she doesn’t want the stranger to have a tight hold of her. It’d make it harder for her to break free.

He squinted at her for a moment. “Ah feel like ah’ve seen ya somewhere. The hair is throwin’ me off a bit.”

“Considering I’m the only one competing with hair like mine, I’d hope I’d be a little more noticeable,” she sassed him a with a smirk.

He reared his head back and released a bellyaching laugh, still holding onto her. Another man turned at the sound and approached, squinting at the man holding her. His eyes met hers and she nodded her head at him and shared with him a half-amused look. She noted that he had short brown hair and pretty blue eyes too. Geez, she had a problem with men with blue eyes.

“Merle,” the new man said, “let the girl go and let’s go. Yer drunk and I ain’t gonna wait till ya pass out ta drag yer sorry ass home.”

“Now, now, little brother,” the man now called Merle said, “that’s no way ta talk in front of a lady.” She rolled her eyes. “Especially since she’s one o’ them fancy athletes. We got ourselves a celebrity here.”

The other man looked her over. “She looks like a kid,” was his response, “ain’t no way she’s competin’.”

“I’m 18 and technically, I’m an adult,” she corrected. The man holding her pointed at her as if agreeing with her. “Now if this were the previous Olympics, you’d be half right.”

“Wut you mean,” came his gruff reply.

“Well, I competed at the previous summer Olympics at 14,” she expanded. She watched in amusement as the men’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. The graying man laughing again.

“What you competin’ in again,” the older man asked.

“I’m competing in four sports,” she answered, “Shooting, fencing, taekwondo, and archery.” She looked between them. “Just won silver for Taekwondo today.”

The gray haired man grinned, mischievously. “How ‘bout ole Merle here buy ya a drink,” Merle offered, “get ya a beer ta celebrate ya hard work and..” he leaned a little to close to her, “…. We go someplace quieter and bump uglies together.” Uglies? The fuck are uglies? She’ll have to ask her boys when she got home.

She looked at him confused and the other man acted. “She don’ want to, Merle,” the other man said, prying his brother off and away from the girl. He remembers watching the taekwondo matches because some idiot had them turn it into a drinking game. Merle, thankfully, had someone who didn’t get many kicks in. “She’s not old ‘nuff ta drink either.”

She laughed. “Nope,” she admitted, “but I work at an Irish pub up in Boston. I know a few Irishmen who show up every day to drink their weight in whiskey all week. They’d be pretty upset if I went drinking without them.” She shot the brothers a teasing wink and walked away. The last thing she heard was Merle cursing out a Daryl, who she assumed was the brown haired man that freed her from Merle.

The rest of the night was spent enjoying the music. She danced and ate food until almost 3 am, where she tiredly and happily returned to her hotel room and blissfully passed out. Her last event wasn’t for another couple days. So she’ll sleep in and then see if there are any cool things she could go do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She stood at her place at the archery range. She’d made it through the qualifier’s round. Right now she’s stuck in second, but as she just watched the woman in the number 1 slot mess up a couple shots, the rainbow haired girl knew she had this in the bag.

After giving the appropriate amount of polite applause for her opponent’s attempt, she calmly walked out. She was the last competitor. The announcer telling the audience her name, country she represents, and what her current score is before her attempt. She stands where directed, bow in hand. A quiver full of arrows is set on a stand by her for when she needs to pull out her next arrow. Out of habit, Katie starts checking over her arrows. She developed this habit whenever she went hunting with her uncles. If an arrow has too much damage or too bent, then it won’t fly straight and hit her target. While she didn’t think anyone would try to cheat, she found a bit of catharsis in checking her arrows. Plus, it gave her a chance to put herself in the mindset she had developed for when she’d use her bow.

When she was satisfied, she looked the judge and nodded at him. She was ready.

She notches and draws back her first arrow. She takes a second to look at the wind flag that was put just off to the side, but in view of all archers. Noticing the wind direction, she made an adjustment and released her arrow. It flew threw the air and landed in the center ring.

10 points right there. The corner of her mouth twitched.

She continued firing arrows. Most of them landing in the 10 ring. Only two landed in the 9. After she finished her attempt, she returned the bow to the game officials and walked off.

On the Jumbotron, it listed the three highest scores, indicating to the crowd who won the women’s individual archery event. Her name was put up at the top. She had the highest score over all. Looks like another gold medal. She grinned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next couple days went by in a blur and before she knew it, it was the closing ceremonies. She and other medalists were waiting for the announcer to call on them. Tomorrow, she’ll be on a plane back to DC and day after a press conference with the president. The ceremony did its’ countdown, and the official Olympic marching band played the theme, and then the Boyz II Men sang the national anthem and even more fireworks. It was all pretty.

The brought out all medalist winners and had them all stand around the podium. They went through each sport alphabetically, then by events if a sport had multiple activities in it. They started with the individual events first and then teams. Katie had been up and down the podium for gold and silver medals. When she received her last medal, her neck felt heavy. But she couldn’t be bothered with the weight though. She earned these medals and she’ll wear them with pride.

The ceremony finished without a hitch and basically turned into a big music concert. Not that she was complaining, she enjoyed it all the same. When the closing ceremony was finished, she returned to her hotel room and finished up the last of her packing. She carefully wrapped each medal in her clothes so they wouldn’t go flying around her her suitcase. She looked at her plane ticket to double check when her flight and was relieved that it was a mid-morning flight. She’ll be able to grab breakfast at the hotel at least. She called the front desk to request a wake-up call so she didn’t have to try and figure out the damn alarm clock. Evil thing kept waking her up at 4 am and after the third day, she finally had enough and unplugged the diabolical contraption.

Next morning, she standing at the airport waiting for her flight. She’s wearing a black crop-top, purple plaid skirt, black tights, her leather jacket, combat boots, and long faux gold necklace and a couple rings. Her hair is down and in wavy loose curls. She pushes her sunglasses up from her eyes to rest on her head as she checks her bag in at the front desk for her airline. Once she’s finished, she moves quickly through the airport to find her terminal, backpack and purse slung over one shoulder. Once she finds her terminal and sees that she has a while before her flight, she wanders around the airport to check out some of the little stores near her terminal. Once she’s had her fill of window shopping, she heads over to the coffee shop and gets some coffee and a brownie for a snack and enjoys it sitting at the terminal. Long after she’s finished, she finds herself taking her seat on the plane. Marcus, ever the sweet man, got her the window seat and it was only one seat in this row. So she didn’t have to have anyone sit next to her.. She recognized a few of her fellow athletes, but kept to herself. She pulled out her mp3 player and started listening to her music while reading a book she bought at one of the little stores to read. It had a dragon on it and immediately caught her attention. She was a sucker for fantasy and sci-fi novels.

She noticed someone sit in the seat across the aisle from her and glanced over. She paled slightly at who was sitting near her.

Fucking Tanya Evergreen. The goddamn reporter who decided to tell all of America and probably most of the damn free world about personal things of her life that was nobody’s goddamn business.

The journalist seem to realize who she sat next to and smirked. She purposefully made sure that she got a ticket for this flight because somebody had leaked to her that the US Olympics team manager had gotten tickets for several athletes for this flight and several other flights. Katie grimaced and went back to her novel, turning her music up just a little more. This was going to be an uncomfortably long flight. So much for enjoying some damn peace quiet before she got to DC. The plane wasn’t going to be taking off for a while since an announcement earlier from the pilot informed the passengers that the plane was delayed for a half hour.

She felt the current bane of her current existence tap her shoulder. Katie closed her eyes and slumped her shoulders, sighing in defeat. She sent a blasé expression at the reporter. Tanya was motioning for her to take her headphones off so the reporter could speak with her. Katie decided to comply if only so she could tell the woman that she isn’t interested in talking to her or doing an interview trapped on a fucking plane with her.

“Hello, Tanya. What part of my private life that isn’t anyone else’s business but mine are you going to try and drill me about now,” the 18-year-old sassed. She wasn’t going to be nice to her. “Or are you hear to bitch about getting your ass handed to you verbally and physically by a little girl.” She faked an excited expression and gasped. “Or is it about your psycho freak out when you followed my brothers and I to Five Guys and proceeded to try and prevent us from leaving like freaking lunatic. You really need to work on your people skills. I enjoyed finding out that America got to see that freak out. Holy shit.”

Tanya shot her an annoyed frown. “Was hoping to ask about a rumor that you have a stalker and dating two men at the same time,” she grumbled, trying to press the girl for information. Her eyes zeroed in on the girl’s face, searching for clues that she was right.

Katie shot her a disturbed and creeped out look and then glared. “What the fuck? Okay,” she snapped. She was done, “you have a serious problem. I’ve watched your segments. You never ask such personal questions to other people you’ve interviewed before. Why the fuck are you so interested on being such a fucking creep and obsessively digging through my life like it’s your business? I don’t know you. You’ve probably never heard of me until the Olympics, either one I’ve been to. I don’t know or care. Hell, there are literally other athletes on this plane too that you probably have never heard of before till this year’s Olympics. I am just a girl who was given an opportunity to compete in the greatest sporting event in the world and had a blast participating. Why are you like this? This is harassment and stalking at this point.”

“So it is true,” Tanya pressed, smirking. Why is she acting like Katie answered her question? What was this? Some poorly written crime drama?

“I’m not confirming anything. I’m not going to give you whatever answer you’re going for. My life,” she presses her hand to her chest, “my personal, private life has nothing to do with the Olympics other than my family is super supportive and proud of me and my accomplishments. I’m not going to give you answers to some stupid rumors you’ve heard. I’m putting my headphones back on now. I just want a quiet flight, where the only thing I have to do is read and listen to music. I’ve got stuff I have to do in DC and family to see before having to hop on another flight to Boston. Please, for the love of any and all deities that are worshipped on this damn planet, leave me alone.”

With that, she puts her headphones back on and looks away from Tanya. She takes a deep breath to force herself to relax. She opened her book again and started delving into the fantasy world she had discovered in the book. She was able to enjoy a couple minutes of her book before she felt another tap on her shoulder.

Katie glanced over in Tanya’s direction in the corner of her eye to see if it was because the stewardess was here, but nope. It was just Tanya…. Motioning her to take her headphones off. Katie shot her an annoyed look and shook her head, verbally telling her ‘no’ as well. She wasn’t giving this woman anymore of her attention. She wasn’t interested in satisfying this woman’s weirdly, obsessive curiosity with her life. Katie went back to her book and continued to ignore her and try to enjoy her book. She was getting invested in it despite the interruptions. Tanya tapped her shoulder again. And again a few minutes later. Then again. After few more taps, Tanya decided to escalate.

She yanked off the poor girl’s headphones... Katie snapped.

“WHAT,” she snarled, loudly. The other passengers on the plane quieting down and focusing their attention on the two women, specifically the rainbow-haired girl who looked one moment away from committing homicide. “What could you _possibly_ hope to gain from this forced interview?! Leave me the fuck **alone**! I don’t want to talk about my **personal life** so you can go onto your stupid show and tell all your nosy, gossipy viewers all the **_juicy_** details about my personal life!! Why are you so fucking **adamant** about trying to get details out of my life?”

“You are a celebrity with a dark past. You’ve even made history. You’re going to be a household name and it’s my job to let them know who they are talking about. You’re going to have little girls all over America that are going to idolize you. Parents should know if you are worthy of being role models for their children. The people have the right to know,” was her adamant and very lame reply. Katie saw red.

“Are you kidding me,” Katie snarled, starting quiet and voice raising as she went. “What right do the **people** have to my personal life? **Fuck the people.** ” Her face was red and she gave Tanya such a vindictive look that the woman actually started shrinking in her seat. “The **people** do **NOT** have a right to know about how I was kidnapped as a child.” Murmurs broke out amongst the other people on the plane. “The **people** do **NOT** have the right to know that I have some creepy jerk stalking me. The **people** do **NOT** have a right to know who the **MCFUCK** I am dating.” She was standing now and visibly shaking. “Hell, the only thing the **people** should know is what a fucking psychotic and obsessive lunatic you are. You’ve been told multiple times to leave me alone. I do **NOT** , now or **ever** , want to be interviewed by you. You have done nothing but harass me. You have **yanked** my headphones **off my head** just because I **did not want to talk to you** and you **completely ignored my wishes to be left alone**. If you continue to bother me, I will fucking **knock your damn lights out**.”

Thankfully, before Tanya could give the multi-colored eye girl a reason to go through with her threat, the flight attendant showed up.

“Is there a problem,” the attendant asked. This snapped the girl out of her red haze and realized she was causing a scene. Katie sighed and ran her hand through her hair, falling back into her seat exhausted and emotionally drained. Tanya, however, decided that now was the perfect time to start some damn drama.

“This bitch just threatened me,” Tanya wailed, breaking out the waterworks. Katie looked at her. Are you kidding me? Is that all this psycho heard?

The flight attendant looked at the younger woman. “Is this true,” the attendant asked. Her tone neutral.

Katie sighed. “Technically, yes,” she admitted, “but-“

“SEE,” Tanya screeched, pointing at the younger girl accusingly, “she admitted it. I want the police here. NOW.”

Katie actually started to panic. She went to say something, anything to defend herself, when another voice jumped in.

“She only threatened the lady because she was being harassed and assaulted,” an old lady who was sitting behind Tanya chimed in, “this lady,” she motioned to Tanya, “has been harassing her since she sat down,” she motions back to Katie, “this young lady has repeatedly told her to leave her alone AND made a point of putting on her headphones so she didn’t have to hear this woman. When she stopped responding to her, this crazy lady proceeded to tap the girl’s shoulder repeatedly and, when she didn’t acknowledge her, she yanked the headphones off the poor girl’s head.”

Katie, all caught up and overwhelmed with her emotions, the stress, and this stranger’s kindness for speaking up, started crying. She hadn’t meant to, but the tears flowed anyway. She looked away and tried to wipe away her tears so she wouldn’t look like such a crybaby. Before Tanya could say anything to rebuke the old woman, another person spoke up.

“I got it recorded if you want proof. I was rewatching some videos I took to pass the time until we took off,” another passenger spoke up. He help up his video camera. He sat in directly behind the old woman who spoke up.

The flight attendant approached the man and watched the recording. She looked back at the two disruptive passengers. Katie sat there and looked guilty for causing such a scene, her eyes glued to her lap.

The flight attendant approached the two women. “Wait here,” she ordered the two, “I need to check something.” The attendant left, then came back 15 minutes later. She looked to Tanya. “You are being removed from the flight. Grab your bag. Security will escort you off,” she ordered. The attendant ignored Tanya’ sputtering and looked at Katie. “Miss, on behalf of the company, I sincerely apologize for how stressful and horrible this flight has been and we haven’t even taken off yet. So I’d like to offer you an upgrade to first class. There several seats available, including a window seat like yours just a few aisle’s ahead of you,” the attendant said.

Katie looked at the attendant in surprise, Tanya turning red and sputtering even more. She smiled, tiredly and nodded. Tanya got pulled off the flight when security arrived and Katie was put in first class. She had more leg room and since no one sat behind her, she was able to lean her seat back. She pulled out her MP3 player and put her music back on. She pulled her book out again and picked up where she left off. Finally, she can enjoy her flight.

When she landed, she managed to get ahold of the man who recorded the incident. She asked if there was a way to get a copy of it to show her manager. Thankfully, he had it recorded on a fresh tape when he noticed Tanya harassing her in the beginning. She thanked him profusely and even took pictures and signed a few autographs for him to show her gratitude for his help.

She managed to get her luggage and her mother was waiting for her by baggage. Katie told her mother what happened and showed her the tape that had the video. Her mother agreed that it was a good thing that someone recorded it. She told her daughter to call Marcus as soon as they got home.

The rest of her day went by a little less stressful. She managed to meet in Marcus the same day after she called him and he took her to speak with the lawyers that US Olympic committee had on staff and to show them the tape taken. They informed her that if Tanya or the company she worked for send her anything in an attempt to harass her or put out stories to slander her, they will get in touch with them. They’ll also help her get a restraining order against the reporter herself and inform the channel she worked for that she was no longer welcome to attend any Olympic related events as a reporter. Katie thanked the lawyers and gave them he tape to hold onto, then went home.

Her family would take her to dinner and later that night in her room, she’d call up her boys and tell them the day she had. They were worried that Tanya would try something anyway despite the warning, but Katie trusted Marcus. He’d never given her a reason to not trust him and he always went above and beyond to protect his athletes.

After she finished talking to her boys, she hung up and collapsed on her bed. She was exhausted, but feeling hopeful now that lawyers were getting involved with her problem with Tanya.

She slipped into a blissful sleep. A small smile on her face when she remembered that in another day or so, she’ll be back in the arms of her boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God this chapter drained me. I literally watched the opening ceremony for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Thank god it was on YouTube or I would have to write my own version of it. I know that there was a bombing that happened there too, but I figured this story could live without it.
> 
> Also, WE GOT A CAMEO!!!! Got Merle and Daryl hanging out in Atlanta for the Olympics. Mostly boozing and partying (well, Merle is partying. Daryl’s there for some booze and to try and make sure his brother doesn’t get arrested again).
> 
> I’ll be the first to admit. This was a little breezy, but again, kinda speed running through certain parts so we can get to all the good stuff. Nobody’s complained about it yet, so I’m assuming you all agree. At least if you’ve gotten this far.
> 
> I hope you all continue to enjoy reading my story as I do writing it.
> 
> Be safe!! I love you guys lots!!!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’M ALIVE I PROMISE!!! I’M ALIVE!!!
> 
> I had a crazy day yesterday and COMPLETELY forgot to post until this morning (yes, I know it’s the afternoon now, but I had to do my final proofread/edit).
> 
> Enjoy reading!!!!

The next two days went by quickly. She had the press conference with the president and then, spent the rest of her time with family. She gave her mother the medals and pictures from the award ceremony to put up on the display with the medals she won four years before. Like this year, she did four sports: fencing, archery, shooting, and taekwondo. During that time, she had won gold for her epee event, but silver this time. Same with her double trap and taekwondo events. She was still proud of herself though. Her mom made her help reorganize the display. Her parents had a couple large trophy cases that held the family’s achievements. Medals, certificates, diplomas, trophies, anything that her family was awarded, her mother had put in the cases. Katie looked at it after she was done. She felt a little guilty because she felt like she was overshadowing her brothers achievements. She did win a lot of medals. Sam had played lacrosse and hockey. He’d won awards and even competed nationally for it. Dean had played football and was part of a band. He’d done a few local gigs and even did a battle of the bands, still does. Katie remembered that fondly, as Dean had let her not only help write the music, but was even a co-lead singer with her brother. While Dean primarily played guitar, she’d switch between guitar and the piano. Though she mostly stuck with the latter, so Dean could have something that was his. Sam was also part of the band for keyboard and bass, but was also part of the debate team for his school and was even the class president for his last two years of high school. Her father had some items in there as well. His college bachelor’s and his masters diploma. Medals that he had earned for his service in the military. Even some trophies that he earned in high school as well. Each of these items were accompanied with pictures of the events that they were awarded in. Her mother had a few things as well. Diplomas and few trophies and awards of her own from school and work. It was their life in these cases.

Soon enough, she was on a plane heading to Boston. She could hardly wait. She found herself impatiently shifting in her seat the entire flight. Checking her watch over and over again. She practically ran off the plane when they were allowed to disembark. She was wearing a purple crop-top, an oversized black flannel shirt, jeans that had the cuffs rolled up, and her combat boots. Her hair was in a half updo. Her bangs pulled behind her head and it all cascaded down her back in loose, wavy curls. She reached baggage claim and waited for her bag. As she waited, she suddenly felt arms wrap around her waist and she was hoisted up off the ground in a spin.

She squealed in surprise and laughed. She was set down and when she turned around, she was greeted with the face of Connor. Her smiled practically spit her face in two, she was so happy to see him. She threw her arms around his neck as he bent down to wrap his arms around her waist and kissed him. He picked her up again and spun her around once more. They parted and stayed standing there, wrapped around each other. They stared at each other, getting lost into each other’s eyes. She unwrapped an arm from his neck to cup his face lovingly.

“Hey there, stranger,” she greeted, warmly. Connor’s smile just seemed to brighten even more.

“Hey,” he replied, softly. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, like he hadn’t seen her in a couple of years instead of a couple months. When they parted, he rested his forehead against hers. “Oh, I’ve miss ya, sweet girl,” he whispered to her.

She heard the converter belt running behind her and suddenly remembered that she need to get her suitcase. She broke from Connor’s embrace to turn to get her bag, when another hand held up her suitcase in front of her. She followed the arm connecting to her hand until she saw Murphy’s handsome face.

“Forgot somethin’, miss,” he teased.

She laughed. She grabbed Murphy’s face and dragged him down to kiss him breathless. He put her suitcase down and pulled her to him, his own hands grabbing her face to hold onto her. When they parted, she wrapped her arms around him for a hug, burying her face into his chest and breathing in his scent. He smelled of cigarettes and whiskey and she never thought she’d love that smell so much.

Murphy snickered at her and rubbed her back. “Do ya have everythin’ or are we waitin’ on another bag,” he asked, kissing the top of her head.

“I only have the one suitcase and backpack,” she replied, “we can leave now.”

“Good,” Connor said from behind her, “let’s head back ta your place. Rocco said he was gettin’ the food and is waitin’ at the apartment for us.”

They left and arrived at the apartment almost a half hour later. She opened her apartment and there was Rocco and Doc standing at her table setting up dinner. They had gotten food from an Italian place that she liked going to. She ran up to the two and greeted them. Rocco spun her around in a hug and Doc gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek. She’d missed the two of them almost as much as she missed her boys. The five sat down for the celebratory meal. She told them about her trip in Atlanta. The competition and the concerts and events she saw. She told them about her trip to the Coca-Cola museum and even pulled out the cheesy gift shop stuff she got for the four. She showed them pictures and told Rocco and Doc about her incident with Tanya on the flight back to DC. They also expressed concern about the reporter being strangely obsessed with the young woman. Katie made sure to tell them about her meeting with Marcus and lawyers. That appeased them a bit.

After a couple hours of catching up, Doc and Rocco left. They knew the boys and Katie wanted some alone time.

As soon as the door closed, Murphy had latched onto her from behind while she was washing her dishes.

“Missed ya, aingeal,” he murmured into her shoulder. She smiled happily as she kept washing. If she didn’t finish now, then she’d wouldn’t get to them until tomorrow and she didn’t want to deal with them the next day.

“Missed you too, babe,” she echoed, “I kinda wished I said yes to you two coming down, but I didn’t want you to spend your money. We wouldn’t have much time together to go do stuff until after most of my events. Besides, it just made me miss you more.” She felt Murphy smile into her shoulder and felt him place a kiss there. He waited patiently until she was finished cleaning.

As soon as she set the last dish aside to dry, he spun her around and pressed her against the counter. He hid his face in the crook of her neck and just held her close, breathing in her scent. She wrapped an arm around his waist with her hand gripping his shirt and buried her other hand in his hair.

“Wanna move this to the bed,” she asked, “we don’t have to do anything. If anything, I’m in the mood for some much needed cuddling.” He hummed in agreement.

He pulled away, but still holding her and walked over to her bed, Connor following. When they reached her bed, he scooped her up and dropped on the bed with her. She laughed, kicking her shoes off and moved around on the bed, setting pillows around so they’d be more comfortable. She settled first on her back and opened her arms to the men. They worked quickly to removed their boots, shirts, and belts, crawling onto the mattress after her. Connor reached her first. He lied half on her on her right with his head tucked into the crook of her neck, her arms wrapping around him. One hand slowly rubbing his back and the other carding her fingers through his hair. He had one arm wrapped around her waist and the other under the pillow Katie’s head rested on. Murphy was on her left. He slipped his arm under his head, tucking himself half under her and curling against her side, his head resting against the back of her shoulder and his hand resting on it as well pulling her to him.

They stayed like that. Just tucked against each other and finding themselves stuck between being half awake and lightly dozing. Connor was trying really hard to not fall asleep, but was finding it difficult due to the fact that Katie’s fingers in his hair and her hand rubbing his back was very soothing. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, letting himself fall deeper into her embrace and nuzzled his head further into her neck. He kissed the bit of skin his lips could reach.

“We really did miss ya, lass.” Connor mumbled into her neck. He felt her arms squeeze around him in her acknowledgment to what he said.

“I missed you too,” she whispered back, eyes closed. She smiled as the boys gave her a squeeze too. “You know…. The next summer Olympics is gonna be held in Australia,” she informed them, “if you want, you two could come with me. It’s still a good long while before we could go. Plus, after the Olympics, we could stay an extra two weeks in a resort. Get a room with a big window and a pretty view that you could fuck me against.” She squealed when she felt the boys playfully bite her neck, then settled back against her.

“That’s a long four years,” Murphy pointed out, “how do ya know we’ll still be together by then?” She tensed at the question. She hoped that they wouldn’t notice in their half asleep state. They kinda did.

Even though Murphy hadn’t meant anything malicious when he asked, it still didn’t stop the stabbing ache in her heart at the idea of not being with them in the future. She forced herself to relax.

“Well, obviously there’s no guessing at the future,” she threw out, keeping her face calm in case Murphy or Connor were watching her reaction, “doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be just a little fun to imagine it, though. Sun, sand, and the ocean.” She opens her eyes to look at Murphy behind her. “Not to mention by then, I’ll be 22. So, we can go bar hopping and try all sorts of Australian brews.”

“The drinkin’ age in Australia is 18, Katie,” was Connor’s muffled comment, “ya can already legally drink there. Technically, ya can legally buy and drink alcohol in most countries at the age of 18. Ya can even legally drink in Ireland, though it’s more of a guideline than a rule. Most people don’t follow it, except bars and stores. Ya can get alcohol from pretty much anyone there.”

She lied there quietly for a moment, then pouted. “Are you kidding me,” she grumbled, “and we had this year’s summer Olympics in fucking Atlanta. I could have been drinking my weight in booze in some foreign country and the Olympics were held in the fucking US. Goddamn it, this would happen to me.”

The boys snickered at her while she fumed silently in their arms. Connor raised his head from her neck to look her in the eyes.

“Calm down, lass,” Connor soothed, giving her a peck on the lips, “ya don’ need ta go ta bars in foreign countries ta have booze when ya have us around.” He kissed her again. “Besides, it’s rather sweet that you’d want ta plan on goin’ on a trip with us. Do ya really think we’d still be together that long,” he asked, watching her face carefully. Damn, looks like they did notice something.

She shifted a little, her eyes looking away from Connor guiltily. “Honestly, it just feels right thinking that we’ll still be together by then,” she admitted quietly, “if anything it’s harder to imagine my future without you two in it.” She shrugs and frowns lightly. “I know that we’ve only been together for a short while and most of it was long distance. Maybe it’s because I’m being naïve or silly to think that this relationship will last that long. You never know what happens. But I thought that when we admitted to having feelings for each other back in January that there’d be a chance for something. Everyday since we got together has been wonderful, even the bad ones. I looked forward to every phone call we had and I actually counted the days, the hours, the minutes, and even the damn seconds until I’d see you two again.” She looked at Connor, whose face was blank, and she felt fearful to his potential reaction. “I’d like to think we’re serious,” she confessed, quietly, “if you don’t feel that way, it’s fine.” Her heart aching at the possibility that they were never going to want anything serious, but she forced herself to smile so as to not worry the man above her.

Connor suddenly lunged forward and smashed his lips against her in a searing kiss. Murphy followed his brother’s lead and started mouthing at her neck. His hand moving from her shoulder to roughly. palm her breast. Connor’s hand moved down to grab the meaty flesh of her ass. She gripped Connor’s hair tightly and moaned into his lips as she grinds her hips against his. She missed this.

Connor broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers, breathing hard. “Of course, we’re serious,” he told her, “don’ think we’re gonna want anyone after ya.” Murphy hummed in agreement, his hand going from her breast to between her legs to cup her core. He started rubbing hard over her clothed clit.

This went on for a few more moments. Just kissing, hands roaming and gripping and heavy petting. Connor and Murphy had their hands under her shirt and was slowly dragging it up her body to take it off. Katie opened her eyes and realized that the lights were still on and panicked.

“No, stop,” she exclaimed, grabbing her shirt and forcing it back down.

The boys immediately stopped and pulled away from her sitting up. She sat up as well fixing her shirt back down. She was facing away from the boys on the edge of the bed and her face in her hands, trying to calm down. The brothers looked at each other in surprise and confusion. She’d never acted like this before.

Connor and Murphy moved so they sat on either side of her.

“Katie,” Murphy called softly, “what’s wrong, lass? Did we miss a sign earlier?”

Her hands went from her face to go through her hair. The brothers could see her glassy eyes and the look of shame on her face.

“No, I promise it’s not you,” she answered, “it’s me. I forgot to turn the lights off.”

“The lights don’ need ta be off for us ta have a good time,” he pointed off, “we’d done it before, remember.”

Connor watched her face carefully. Then, it dawned on him why she might be acting like this.

“Is this because of your back,” he questioned. She tensed at the mention of her back. Looks like he guessed right. “I know we asked before and ya asked us ta wait till you’re ready, but this has ta have somethin’ ta do with it.”

She could only nod in reply. Her lip started quivering and a tear fell down her face. She quickly wiped it off her face with a frustrated look. Connor gently took her hand in his. Murphy reached out and took her other hand, bringing it up to kiss the back of it.

“Ok,” Murphy conceded, Katie turning her head to look at him, “if it’s related ta that, then we won’t press and we don’ have ta do anythin’. It’s gettin’ late. Why don’ we go ta bed? You don’ have ta tell us anythin’ tomorrow either. If and when you’re ready, tell us.”

She nodded and stood up, sniffling. She went over to the dresser and pulled out a random baggie t-shirt from it. She walked past the bed and headed right into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She leaned on the sink and stared at herself in the mirror.

‘Shit. You are pathetic,’ she thought to herself, ‘how fucking hard is it to just **tell** them? Why is it hard? It shouldn’t be this hard.’ She glumly took off her top, bra, jeans and socks, and put on the shirt she grabbed. Looking back at the mirror, she realized that she had grabbed one of the boys’s shirts. Frustrated tears slid down her cheeks and she rubbed them off angrily. ‘Stop crying, you big baby,’ she snapped mentally. She brushed her teeth and rinsed her face off with cold water.

She jumped at the sound of knocking on the door.

“Katie,” came Murphy’s muffled voice, “are ya okay?”

She opened the door, revealing the handsome Irishman’s worried face. She smiled tiredly and nodded. He smiled softly and reached out to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. He leaned down to kiss her.

“Go lie down,” he ordered, “Con and I will be joinin’ ya in a bit. Okay?”

“Okay,” she mumbled.

Murphy moved out of the way so she could exit the bathroom. She dropped her laundry in the laundry bin and head over to her bed. She pulled back the covers slipping into it and settling in the middle of the bed. She lied down and closed her eyes. She heard the boys moving around the apartment, flipping out the lights and undressing to their boxers. When they finished, they joined her in the bed. Murphy lied down facing her and Connor settling in behind her. They curled up against her, wrapping her in their arms and both giving her a kiss before settling down to sleep.

They didn’t bring it up again during the next 3 weeks. The boys could tell that Katie was trying to work up the nerve to tell them, but every time she tried, she’d freeze and it looked like her voice was stolen from her because she’d make no sound. They could see her fight with herself and get angry when she couldn’t bring herself to tell them what was bothering her. With a level of patience that the brothers didn’t realize they had, they simply told her that it was fine and give her a kiss, before moving on with their day.

While frustrated with herself, Katie appreciated the patience the boys showed her while she worked out her issues. She tried to show her appreciation and gratitude for their understanding in any way she could. The boys had been staying over a lot since she got back. She’d go to her classes and they’d go to work like normal, but now there was a level of domesticity included. It was……..nice. They fell into an easy rhythm. They’d take turns making meals and Katie would make them lunches to take to work so they’d actually eat something. The boys would make sure that she took breaks if she was overworking herself between her classes, work, and the few interviews that the US Olympic committee had her and other US medalists had to do for publicity. She’d grumble of course, but hey, at least she’d get paid to.

Which is where she was right now. She was at some studio for one of the many news outlets of the news alphabet soup. Her rainbow hair was in wavy curls and she had a black ski cap on. She wore a black queen concert shirt that was made into a crop-top, green army-style jacket, black sheer stockings, dark gray shorts, and her black combat boots. The studio make-up artist liberally applied foundation to her face covering up her freckles. Katie grimaced as she liked her freckles, but forced herself to hold still, and let the make-up artist do her job, even if the young woman did not want her to. The artist also dabbed on some more foundaction, a little blush, put mascara on her, and some shiny pink lip gloss to her face.

“You have such a lovely face,” the older woman said, “and good bone structure. You must have all sorts of men coming after you, huh?”

Katie smiled politely and awkwardly at the lady. She really didn’t want to be here. She had a paper to write and exams to study for. Plus, since it’s a morning interview, she had to wake up earlier than normal and didn’t get to enjoy her new normal morning routine with her boys. The three had stayed up late last night, the boys drinking and her working, and so Katie was even more tired. Thank goodness the studio had coffee.

After the make-up artist was finished, Katie was ushered to take a seat on a surprisingly comfortable couch. Before long the interview started. The news reporters, Tom and Linda, started out by giving their normal morning news report. Fifteen minutes and a commercial break later, and the reporters finally brought the spot light onto her.

“A few weeks ago, the summer Olympics were held in our very own Atlanta, Georgia,” was Tom’s opening statement, “for two weeks, athletes from all over the world competed to prove who was truly the best of the best. Today, we have one of the many athletes who represented the US in these games, Katie Halestrom.” She waved politely to the camera, a wistful ‘good morning’ accompanying her waving.

“So, Katie,” Linda spoke, “you have set numerous records for both the US and for the Olympics just by being the youngest woman to compete and by being the youngest woman, the youngest individual, to win a number of medals in both gold and silver. This must be an exciting accomplishment, yes?”

“Yeah, it really is,” Katie answered, smiling, “I really didn’t think when I started learning any of my sports that I would eventually be competing at such a prestigious event. It was an honor to attend and I had an absolute blast compteting. I’ve met so many amazing athletes from all over the world and I even got to speak with people from some of my close relatives’ countries. So this was an excellent chance for me to get in touch with my family heritage as well.”

“Really,” Tom’s genuine surprise prominent in his voice, “where is your family from?”

“Technically, my father was adopted, but his mother, my Nana, is Armenian,” Katie replied. She was always proud of her heritage, “during the Armenian genocide, my Nana’s family fled Armenia to Lebanon. After that, much of my family moved to other countries in the 80s. The chunk of family that I grew up with live around the DC-Northern Virginia area.”

“How much of your heritage are you connected with?”

“By the time I was like 3 or 4, I was speaking a mix of Arabic, French, and Armenian. My mom was freaking out when I wouldn’t speak English because she was worried that I would struggle with school. My Nana had spent the summer at my parents house working with me on my English. She thought it was hilarious that I didn’t speak English. So did my parents, but, again, my mom wanted me to at least speak English for school.”

“Have you been to Armenia or Lebanon?”

“No, not yet,” Katie admitted with a sad smile, “I’d love to. We still have relatives who live in Lebanon and we want to visit. Nana asked that we wait to make sure that, if we go, it’s safe. I think we’re gonna try and do a big family trip in the future.”

“Well, we hope you get to go,” Linda offered, sympathetically.

“Thanks, I hope so too,” Katie echoed.

“So, back to our previous topic, you have had a rather stressful season,” Tom segued back to the interview.

“A little,” Katie admitted, “when Mr. Brody called me last November to see if I would still be up for competing, I had to make sure I had somethings in my life squared away. I had to finish out the school semester and make sure the university was aware that I wouldn’t be returning until the fall semester. Then, I had to find places to train for my tryouts. Thankfully, Mr. Brody took care of getting my plane ticket so I’d be able to make it to tryouts. He’s an excellent manager. He really goes above and beyond for the athletes in his care.”

“That’s great to hear,” Tom nodded, “now there is something we’d like to really talk about. During your tryouts, several reporters got into the waiting room you and other US Olympic competitors were.” Katie felt whatever polite energy she was trying to force out to get through this interview slip away. “Apparently, you punched one of the reporters. Is this true?”

Katie’s polite smile was gone and instead was a look that showed how unimpressed she was at the questioning and focused it on the reporters. She took a bit of personal enjoyment out of watching the two anchors squirm in their seats under her gaze on LIVE television. She could practically hear her boys and family cackling at the situation. She may have told her family about the interview and they were told her they’d watch the potential shitshow. Katie, jokingly, asked them to make a highlight reel for her.

“Yes, I did. She grabbed my shoulder and yanked my headphones off. That’s grounds for assault and I believe I’m entitled to defending myself. Am I not,” was her reply.

“But you didn’t strike her until much later when she started interviewing you,” Linda interjected, trying to keep the interview going, “it was after a specific question was asked.” Linda motioned the tech crew and on a screen just off camera for the anchors and Katie to see Tanya’s ‘interview’ was played before the three and all of America. Great, that’s what this fucking interview was about. This was to try and make her feel guilty for lashing out the way she had.

“I hope you have the other video of her,” Katie sassed. Any politeness was out the window and she wasn’t going to give the anchors an inch, “you know, the one where she knowingly stalks me all the way to a restaurant that my brothers and I had gone to for lunch after my tryouts. That was pretty spectacular too.” The tech crew actually played the full video of Tanya showing up, arguing with my brothers, and her physically trying to stop her brother’s car from leaving the parking lot. “Wow,” Katie chuckled, “didn’t think you’d actually play that.” She looked smugly over at the anchors, “I think your tech crew’s my favorite people now.”

Tom tried to regain control, “so what did Tanya mean when she said that you were kidnapped and was it really necessary to attack her like you did?”

Katie rolled her eyes. “Alright,” she sneered, “if this is the game you want to play, don’t complain when you don’t like the results.” She huffed. “For your first question, I don’t really know how you can interpret it any other way, but it means exactly what it means. I was kidnapped as a child.” Tom opened his mouth to press more about it, but Katie held up her hand, “No, I will not talk about it. This will tie into to question two.” She leaned closer to the two anchors. Her glare angry and fierce. Katie wasn’t going to hold her punches anymore. She was done being polite. “Yes, I felt it necessary to punch her damn lights out.” She took enjoyment out of the raised eyebrows on the anchors faces. “How would you like it if some complete stranger, doesn’t matter that she was some ‘reporter’,” she used air quotes, “comes up to you and asks you, on LIVE TELEVISION mind you, about some event of your life that you don’t want people to know about? You want to know why I don’t want to talk about it?” She took a deep breath. “IT’S NOBODY’S GODDAMN BUSINESS,” she bellowed, “the only people who need to know are the people who were actually involved. It’s not your business. It’s not your viewers business. It’s MY business and MINE alone. Here’s what you and everyone else should know,” she continued, looking at the camera now, “nobody is entitled to my life story unless I want to talk about it. My trauma is not for your entertainment or for you to gossip about.” She looks back at the anchors. “Like honestly, what made you think that I or anyone you’ve ever interviewed want to talk about past trauma on live television? Are you on fucking drugs or something? Because if so, then that would make total sense since it’s obvious you aren’t thinking straight.” She shook her head angrily. “Shame on you both and your bosses for thinking that this topic was appropriate to discuss on live television. Because of your lack of respect for my boundaries and for my consent, this interview is over,” she finished.

Katie stood up and walked off the set. She ignored all the people who tried to get her to come back for the interview and left the building. She was furious. Like seriously, who the hell in that damn building thought talking about somebody’s childhood trauma was a good idea for a story? Those inconsiderate assholes. Why would they think that she would be willing to tell anyone she doesn’t know about this? And on live television?!?!

She huffed and walked faster. Maybe the boys left some whiskey at her apartment again that she can get a few shots of. She fucking needed it.

Without realizing it, she walked the the god-knows how many blocks to her apartment. She guessed that the glare and murder strut she had going on kept any potential muggers and the like away from her.

She entered her apartment and threw her purse on the little side table by the door. The boys were at Rocco’s having a ‘boy’s only breakfast meet’ as she teasingly called it and, according to the clock, should be either heading over now or will be here any minute. She went to kitchen cabinets and started opening doors. After opening three cabinets, she scored on the fourth. There was a half bottle of whiskey that the boys had left in her kitchen. She knew the boys kept a bottle at her place to have a night cap. They try to keep drinking at her place to a minimum since she lives above the bar they frequent.

She grabbed the bottle and took several long swigs from it, feeling it warm her. When she stopped, she put it back in the cabinet and moved over to the fridge. She figured she could enjoy the buzzing in the back of her head for a little while and then get rid of it with lunch and water. As she was rifling though her fridge trying to figure out what she was in the mood for, a voice sounded behind her.

“You’re a lot harder to find than I thought, Katie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CLIFFHANGER~!!!!
> 
> Who could it be? Can you guess?
> 
> Also, how rude. Can’t reporters get it through their thick skulls that there are somethings that you don’t discuss on LIVE television?
> 
> There’s also some development with OC and another peek to her backstory. What happened to her? Are we ever going to find out? WHO THE FUCK KNOWS?!?!?!
> 
> .....Ok, that’s a lie. I do know.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this week’s chapter. I’ll make sure to post on time next Friday.
> 
> Thank you all for reading my story if you’ve gotten this far!!
> 
> I hope you all continue enjoy reading this fic as I am writing it!!
> 
> Stay safe and love you all!!! <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!
> 
> Chatper 10!!!!
> 
> So, I really hope that anyone who reads this chapter will read the notes first because I want to make sure you wonderful readers are given a heads up first.
> 
> So this is my TRIGGER WARNING. This chapter has a rape scene in it and if that is something you don’t like reading, then skip about halfway or most of the way down the chapter. Or you can skip this chapter entirely, that’s fine.
> 
> When I was planning out my story, this scene was something that I had planned.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter update and the drama that I’m throwing into this.

Katie felt her blood freeze. No. It can’t be. Why would he come here of all places? How did he figure out where she lived this time? She closed the door to the fridge and slowly turned around and was met with the sight of Travis. He sat at her piano. He was going through the sheet music of her new works that she had been writing. She was planning on spending some money to record her music and send a copy to Dean and see if he wanted to use any of it for his band.

Despite the warrant for his arrest, he still looked all clean and put together. He did not look like a man on the run. He looked like he was going to some work event. He wore black fitted jeans, a button-down with rolled sleeves, vest, and loafers. Fucking loafers. The sport jacket that finished off the outfit was lying on her bed like it belonged there. He was clean-shaven and his hair styled. He looked at her and gave her a wry grin.

“I must say,” he spoke, “this is definitely the last place I’d look for you. An apartment above the very bar you work at.” He laughed. “No wonder it was such a pain to find where you lived again.” He stood up and started walking over to her slowly. “I also wasn’t expecting you to whore yourself out to a pair of Irish maggots,” he sneered, closing in on her, “all that effort to try and get you with me and you just overlook me for bar trash.”

“That’s your fault, not mine,” she snapped, “they weren’t the ones stalking me and breaking into my place with the intent to harass or hurt me.” She moved away from the fridge to the living area. If she wanted to escape, she was going to need to keep her distance and plan carefully. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

“I want you,” he said simply, “I want what you’ve been denying me.” He kept walking towards her.

“Well, you can’t have me,” she snipped back, “I’m in a relationship.” She sneered at him, “I also never wanted you. You’re just a little, rich boy who always got what he wanted because mommy and daddy had the money to get it. Well, you can’t buy me and I don’t want you. I’ve never wanted you and I will never want you.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, stopping. He ran a hand through his hair. Then, he grinned maliciously at her. “But I don’t care.” He ran towards her.

Katie reached behind her and grabbed a lamp. She swung it at him. Travis leapt back to dodge it and Katie threw it at him. He ducked to miss it and it crashed against the wall behind him. He kept moving towards her and she threw a fist at him. He moved to the side, but she twisted her body to swipe her dodged fist and clocked him in the side of the head. He took a step back and she aimed another punch at him, hitting his solar plexus.

Winded, he shoved her away and she slammed against the wall. She moved away from it and started running for the window that lead to the fire escape. If she can just get outside, she climb down and slip through the back entrance and get Doc to call the cops. Before she could reach the window, she felt Travis grab her by the hair and yanked her back hard. She screamed in pain and used Travis’s momentum to charge at him. She managed to land a couple of hits on him before he managed a lucky strike against her temple. This knocked her in a daze and he shoved her to the floor.

He pinned her down and hovered over her. He gave her a feral looking grin and started kissing her. She struggled against him and when he forced his tongue in her mouth, she bit as hard as she could. Travis screamed in pain, blood pouring from his mouth, and punched her hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. As she laid there coughing, he backhanded her across the cheek. With the free hand, she shot out another punch. Travis dodged and grabbed her wrist pinning her back down. He maneuvered both her wrists into his one hand and with his other, reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick zip-tie. With another jab to her solar plexus, he used the opening he gave himself to zip-tie her hands together. Another jab and he dragged her over to a metal bar against the wall. He pulled another zip-tie to attach the zip-tie on he tied her with to the bar.

“Get off of me,” she yelled, “DOC, CALL THE POLICE!! HELP!!” She tried calling out to Doc for help. Oh, how she hoped that he was here today and hadn’t gone out for errands.

Travis stood up from her, while she kept calling for help, and walked over to kitchen. After opening a few drawers, he found what he was looking for. Walking back, she could see that it was her roll of duct tape. She kicked out at him hoping to take out his knees or get him in the balls. He caught one leg and used it to make it easier to straddle her again. He duct-taped her mouth and set the roll aside on the floor.

“In case, we want to have a little more fun with it,” he teased.

He latched onto her neck biting harshly and licking it. His hands palming her breasts over her shirt and grinds his hips against hers.

Katie kept struggling, but felt tears forming in her eyes. She couldn’t believe this was really happening to her. She didn’t want this. Where are Connor and Murphy? Did she remember the time wrong?

Travis sat up over her again and reached into this vest. He pulled out a pocket knife and went about cutting her top off, leaving her only in her bra from the waist up.

“God, you’re so gorgeous underneath me,” he rasped, “I can see why those Irish pricks love staring down at you so much.” Her eyes widened and she struggled more, “yeah, I’ve seen them fuck you. I actually found this place in February, but by the time I could check it out, you’d already gone to DC. Don’t worry, though. I’ll show you how a real man fucks.” He cut her bra off her and started kneading her breasts. “Shit, they’re so soft,” he hissed, “I’ve been wanting you for so fucking long.” He lent down to bite and suckle her breasts roughly.

She cried out in pain, tears spilling, when he bit her nipple too hard. She felt him grinding himself even harder against her at the sound. He drew himself off her nipple with a wet pop.

“I can’t wait anymore,” he said, reaching a hand down to unbutton her shorts, “I’ve wanted you for so long. I want in that tight pussy of yours.” She cried, tears pouring down her face, and started trying to kick at him some more.

He grabbed his knife and held the blade against the side of her face, stilling her.

“Hold still,” he ordered, “don’t want me to accidentally cut you, do you?” He mockingly dragged the knife along the side of her face, down her throat, between her breasts and down her navel. He had it veered to the side, where he dipped the blade into the waist band of her shorts. He cut down it, freeing one leg from her shorts. He dragged it down the leg it was still wrapped around to her ankle and left it there. He took the knife and shredded up her leggings enough to give him easy access to her panties. Then, finally his knife cut away at the last article of clothing that hid her away from him, tossing them somewhere behind him. He leaned back when he was done. He folded his knife and returned it to his vest pocket and took a moment to look over his work.

Katie laid bare under him. The only things left of her outfit was the shredded stockings covering most of her legs and her boots. She closed her thighs to try and keep some of her dignity. Travis grabbed his clothed dick and gave it a rough stroke to try and alleviate the discomfort his pants were causing him.

“By the end of this,” Travis whispered, “you’ll never want any other man ever again. Especially, those Irish fuck-boys you like.”

He undid his pants and pulled out his cock. He sat there staring at her and started stroking his cock. He wanted to enjoy the sight of her under him. She lied there, crying and begging him to stop through the tape. She looked so delectable like this to him. He should have tried taking her sooner.

He grabbed her thighs with a grip that was definitely going to bruise and forced her legs apart, exposing her to him. He groaned at the sight of her pussy and adjusted himself so that his cock was lined up with her entrance. Her crying picked up even more and she tried to squirm away from him, but he held firm.

However, before he could slam himself home, the door was kicked in. Standing in the door way were a pair of very pissed off Irishmen. Specifically, it was HER Irishmen and the looks they sent Travis would have killed him a thousand times over if it were possible. She started crying again, but this time in relief. They were here. They made it. They’ll make Travis go away.

“Ya better get the FUCK away from OUR girl, ya prick,” Connor snarled, “otherwise, ya gonna find yourself on a one-way trip ta the morgue.”

Murphy didn’t even say anything. He just ran straight for Travis. Travis released Katie and before he could get up to get away, Katie used the distraction the boys gave her. She pulled her leg back, acting like she was trying to cover herself, but instead, she lunged it forward. Using the heel of her boot, she jammed it on Travis’s exposed dick. He screamed in pain and fell over, giving Murphy the advantage. He tackled the other man and started punching him. After bloodying up his pretty boy face, Murphy gave one last punch that knocked his girl’s would-be rapist unconscious. Murphy spotted the tape lying on the floor by her and grabbed it. He used it to tie up the unconscious prick. When the Irishman was done, he tossed Travis aside letting him fall face first onto the floor. Connor had kneeled by Katie, holding her kitchen scissors. He removed the tape from her mouth as gently as he could and cut her hands free, but instead of crawling into his arms, she curled into herself and turned away from him. This exposed her back to him and Murphy and their blood that was burning hot with anger suddenly froze as it turned to ice in horror.

On her back were these angry, pale scars. But that wasn’t the worse part. What was even worse about them was that they were made to look like letters. Specifically, someone had carved the words ‘devil’s child’ into her back. There was even a fucking apostrophe between the ‘l’ and ‘s’ in ‘devil’s’ like the person who did this still cared about their damn grammar. They could only stare at her back in horror as the girl they cared for cried on the floor in front of them.

The two were quick to snap out of their stupor, though. Connor motioned to Travis. “Watch him,” was all he said to his brother. Connor stood up and headed over to her couch. He grabbed the throw blanket she kept on it and returned back to her. He quickly unfolded it and draped it around her shoulders. Katie tensed when she felt the blanket and seemed to freeze in place. She forgot about her back and had shown it to the boys. They saw the scars. They won’t want her anymore. They aren’t going to want someone with such fucked up baggage as her. As if reading her mind, Connor soothed her worries.

“Hey, stop overthinkin’, aingeal,” Connor reassured her, gently helping her sit up, “we’re not goin’ anywhere.” He gently pulled her to him looking for any sign that she wanted to get away. “Murph an’ I had been catchin’ bits of it since we started sleepin’ with ya. We could tell that ya had some bad scars from the bits we saw, but we knew we’d see them when ya ready. I’m sorry ya couldn’t’ve shown them ta us when ya were ready instead of like this. We aren’t goin’ anywhere, I promise, mo chroi.”

Mo chroi? That was a new one. The two had only ever called her aingeal or sweet girl, or lass. This was new.

She looked up at Connor, her face tear-stained and sniffling. Connor, though, looked at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Like she was the only woman in the world.

“Is sh-sh-sh-she alright,” came Doc’s voice from the hallway outside, snapping them back to reality, “T-t-t-the police should be h-h-h-here soon. FUCK! ASS!”

“I’ll go talk ta Doc and wait for the cops ta finally get here,” Connor said, gently moving her hair behind her ear. “I’m gonna hand ya over ta Murph. He’ll be here while I’m gone.” Seeing her face fall. A bit, he quickly added, “I’ll be back soon. I promise. I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

Connor motioned his brother over and gently put her in his arms. Katie couldn’t bring herself to look at either of them in shame, especially as more tears fell down her face. She angrily wiped them away, but was stopped when Murphy gently took her hand.

“It’s okay ta cry, lass,” the Irishman murmured to her, “ya need ta let it out. It’s okay. Like Connor said, we’re not goin’ anywhere. Ya stuck wit’ us, mo stor.” He brought her hand up to kiss her fingers tenderly. “When the cops take that little shit away, we’ll help ya clean up the place. Maybe we’ll order somethin’ for dinner tonight. How do ya feel about Chinese? Our treat? We’ll call your parents too. They’ll want ta know what happened as well.” She nodded. Murphy held her a little tighter to him and rubbed her back soothingly. “Don’ worry, lass. You’re strong. It’s gonna suck now because your emotions and brain are tryin’ ta process what happened and that it did. But after, ya can focus on buildin’ yourself back up and Connor and I? We’ll be here for ya. As long as you’ll have us.”

‘What if I want you around forever,’ she thought to herself. She buried her face further into Murphy’s chest.

Another moment later, Murphy lightly tapped her back to gain her attention. “Do ya want ta put some clothes on,” he asked, “as much as I like lookin’ at ya all naked, I’m sure ya’d like it if ya didn’t accidentally flash the cops when they get here.” She huffed a quiet laugh and nodded her head.

He helped her up and walked her over to her dresser and acting as a barrier between her and the busted apartment door, helped her dress in a t-shirt and sweats. He smiled when he realized that she was wearing one of shirts he and his brother leave at her place.

Honestly, he and his brother loved this girl. They were planning to tell her soon, but after this, their confession will have to wait till much later. Until their girl felt as close to herself as she can be.

A few minutes later, Connor returned with the police and EMTs. One statement to the police, a quick check over by an EMT, a bunch of pictures of the crime scene, and an hour later, the police and EMTs were getting ready to take Travis and leave. It was around that time that Travis had regained consciousness while being looked over by an EMT. When he realized what was happening, he tried to escape, but Murphy was a little too liberal with the duct tape and all he ended up doing was wiggle around on the floor like a fucking lunatic. At that point, the police freed him from the tape, found and removed the pocket knife, and handcuffed him. As he was being led away, the officer escorting him out started reading him his Miranda rights. He struggled a bit looking around the room before his eyes zeroed in on her. Connor and Murphy put her behind them to try and hide her from his gaze.

“You think I’ll be going to jail,” he snarled at the girl, “I’ll be out on bail within the hour and the case’ll be thrown out. I’ll have my fun with you soon.” He grinned viciously. “After all…. I know where you live now.” He cackled as he was led out.

The other officers and EMTs left the apartment and soon it was just the three of them. Katie grimaced at the damaged door. The boys noticed and winced. When Doc called them saying that Katie was in trouble, they rushed over as fast as they could in Rocco’s car. They had rushed up the stairs and could hear her crying through the door. When they kicked it in and saw Travis over her like that, if it wasn’t for the fact that Katie would have wanted him in jail instead of them and that she mattered more, Travis would be a dead man. Though, they don’t think they’d go to jail for killing a rapist in defense of their girl.

“We’ll see if Doc has a spare door,” Connor offers, “if not, we’ll try ta fix it up enough until we can get it replaced for ya.”

Katie rubbed her arms. “I don’t know if I want to be here right now,” she confessed quietly, “can we go out for a bit?”

Murphy was quietly thinking, before speaking up, “do ya want ta pack another bag and stay with us like the last time he broke inta your place?” She nodded. “Okay, we’ll help ya pack.”

Thirty minutes later, the three were sitting on the couch at the boys’ apartment. Connor had Katie call her family to let them know what happened and were she’s staying. Her parents were furious to find out what Travis had tried to do to her and told her that if she needed help paying for a lawyer that they would help. Her father also spoke with the boys thanking them for saving her and being there for her when he and the rest of her family couldn’t. Her father also asked them to keep her with them for a few days and have Katie figure out what she wants to do: find another place or finally move back to Virginia. Connor winced at the second option, but understood why. If she moved back, she’d at least have her family and close friends to rely on. Where in Boston, she only had the boys, Rocco and Doc.

She was nursing a glass of whiskey in her hand that she hadn’t taken a sip out of and was staring it in deep thought. The boys looked at each other worried and waited for her to say her piece.

“You saw my back,” she pointed out, “so you can guess why it’s been taking a long time to tell you about how it got this.”

“Aye, kinda obvious,” Murphy admitted, “But like Connor said, you’d tell us when ya ready, not before. Just because we saw your back before ya were, doesn’t mean ya have ta tell us now.”

“The thing is I want to,” she said, “I just wasn’t sure how. I mean how do you talk about something like this.” She stood up and started pacing around their apartment. “Like really. How the fuck do you talk about the horrendous scars some fucking psycho put on your back as a child. HOW?” She looked at her boyfriends exhausted. She sighed, “how about this? Since you’ve already seen my back, you ask the questions to start me off and I’ll take it from there.”

“How old were ya when this happened,” Connor asked.

“Ten.”

“Ten? Who would hurt a child,” Murphy had an incredulous face and ran his hand through his hair.

“You’d be surprised,” was her wry remark.

“How did this happen,” Connor asked. He almost wished he hadn’t asked. Not with what he was about to learn.

“My family used to go to church,” she started, “not every Sunday, but we’d go maybe once or twice a month. Sometimes, it would be months before we go again. Usually because a family member was going to do a solo in the choir or was leading some luncheon event after the service, or the church was hosting some charity event and we’d go to support. I didn’t mind going to church, but sometimes I wished they weren’t so long or that it was so cold. I was always freezing in church….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFF
> 
> What a chapter. BUT SHE’S OKAY!!! That reveal though. I will warn you all ahead of time as well that the next chapter is pretty rough to read as well.
> 
> I will post a trigger warning in the notes as well at the start of the next chapter when I post again next week.
> 
> Also, I’M SO SORRY I POSTED LATE AGAIN MY DARLINGS!!!!
> 
> I had been stuck with writing some more for this part.. I think I’m currently writing chapter 14 and I’m slowing down again. So I was writing more scenes for future parts (specifically in the TWD parts of the series) and I got some good scenes written. Specifically for s5ep13. That’s the one with Deanna’s party. I had a good scene with Sasha. Wrote some smut for it (I think I did pretty well with that one if I do say so myself). I also started writing a scene for s3 that I am trying to figure out how to finish (I have an idea, I just need to translate it into writing and make sure that the dialogue I’m writing fits the moment and the emotions that are supposed to be felt). Most of part 2 (BDS1) is written, I just have to write the last couple chapters that I want to put in it to end it. I have a scene in part 3 (BDS2) put in my word doc specifically for my fic writing (i create a word doc for that part and write all chapters for it in that one doc. that way if i need to go back and look through what i’ve written i’m not switching between docs each time.)
> 
> I have a process and lots of things that I want to write. Just need to get my brain to let me focus enough to write it.
> 
> For those of you who have gotten this far, thank you so much for reading my fic. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as I have writing it.
> 
> Love you all!! Be safe!! <3


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 11!!! And I posted it on time!!!
> 
> More or less....
> 
> Forewarning, this is a pretty heavy chapter as well. If you read my notes from the last chapter, then you’ll know that this is a pretty rough chapter.
> 
> Trigger warning: child abuse, torture, attempted murder
> 
> If any of this is uncomfortable to you, then feel free to skip this chapter. The next one is clear of any rougher topics.

Katie slept soundly in her bed. Being a 10-year-old is serious business and she wanted to sleep. Unfortunately her family had other plans. Her mother came into her room and approached her sleeping daughter. Meredith chuckled her daughter’s sprawled out body on the bed. She sits on the edge of the bed, gently shaking her daughter awake.

“No,” the child grumbled, shifting away from her mother and further burying herself under the blankets, “it’s my weekend too and I want to sleep in.”

“Get up. We are going to church today,” her mother informed her with a laugh, “we leave in an hour and if you don’t get something to eat soon, you’re going be miserable the entire time.”

The child sighs dramatically and sits up, glaring at her mother. “Why can’t you just leave me here,” Katie groaned, getting up, “I’m 10. I can feed myself and you won’t have to deal with all your grouchy kids at once.”

Her mother rolled her eyes and set her outfit for church on her bed. It was a long sleeve rainbow striped shirt and an overall jean dress. Her mother also laid out white socks and her black dress shoes for church. Katie got dressed in her clothes then headed to the bathroom to do her morning routine. When she was finished, her mother pulled her aside so she could put Katie’s blonde locks in pigtails with purple scrunchies.

She would join her brothers who were already dressed in their Sunday clothes with their hair slicked back already. Button-down shirts and khakis. Their father was there as well, reading the paper and sipping his coffee. He looked up at the arrival of his youngest.

“Go eat,” Drake said, “we leave soon.”

Thirty minutes later, the family of five is loaded up in her father’s truck and in another twenty minutes, they are pulling into the church parking lot and parking.

She looked to Sam and Dean, tiredly. “Which ever adult decided that church was to be held in the morning was probably possessed by the devil because this has to be hell,” she joked. Her brothers snickered in agreement. What the three kids didn’t notice was that one of the other churchgoers heard the girl’s joke and glared.

This churchgoer was named Jack Tarkin. He considered himself a very devout and god-fearing man. He looked to be around his early 40’s but carried himself like he was fucking Judge Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Katie, her brothers, and basically all of the kids in church thought he was weird and really high-strung. Parents would suggest to their kids that they just give him a wide berth and only interact with him if needed, but be polite if they were to see him. He had brown eyes and thinning brown hair that was graying on the sides. He also for some reason just did not like Katie. It seemed that if she so much as breathed, he would suddenly appear and go on about how if she doesn’t want to end up in hell then she needed to stop with her heathen ways. If anything, the way he looked at her was really what unsettled her. He would look at her like she was the problem, or at least the cause of a problem. What that problem was? The girl didn’t know. He’s basically why she didn’t want to go to church anymore because, if she didn’t go to church, then she wouldn’t have to have her Sunday ruined by Tarkin. Her parents tell her that he’s harmless, but if he really made her feel that uncomfortable, then to just stick close to her parents or her brothers. She usually stuck close to Sam and Dean since they’ll take her to go do fun stuff with their friends afterwards. Plus, she gets to talk to Cas and she adored Cas.

The service went well and soon the Halestrom family’s reason for attending this weekend started. The reason was that there was a fair the church was hosting from after the morning service to the evening of the next Sunday. It was to raise money to donate to the local children’s hospital and if it looked like a bunch of people were there, then it would help bring more awareness and encourage more people to attend. It actually looked very nice. There was a petting zoo, food stands from local restaurants, all sorts of games, a couple rides and attractions, and even a small farmer’s market was set up. All of this was to help raise money for charity.

Without meaning to, she got separated from her family, but since she knew that they wouldn’t leave without her, and most of the people in church recognized her, she felt safe enough to wander around on her own. However, her bladder reminded her that she needs to do human stuff and she hurries to the church to use the bathroom. The priest had informed churchgoers that, while porto-potties would be provided, they would also have the church bathrooms available for fair attendees as well.

Katie rushed inside and was almost clocked in the head by the church door suddenly swinging open. Out came Mr. Tarkin. She stepped out of the way with an apology and all he did was sneer at her like she was the dirt beneath his shoe. He moved away quickly, but not before checking around to see who was around. He didn’t say anything to her, but the contemplative look in his eyes as he looked at her really unsettled the girl for some reason.

She watched him walk away and she shrugged to herself. Maybe she was just overreacting. She went inside and used the bathroom. When she finished and had exited the church, she felt someone grab her, lifting her off the ground. She turned her head to see that it was Mr. Tarkin and he was taking her away from the fair. Katie remembered the talk from her parents and the lectures from the police gave at assemblies about kidnapping and started struggling in the man’s grip. She took a deep breath to scream, but he slammed a hand over her mouth muffling her cries for help.

She continued struggling until one of his fingers slipped a little too close to her mouth and she bit as hard as she could. When he removed his hand, cursing, she started screaming at the top of her lungs. She called out for help, for her parents, for her brothers, for anyone to come help her. People turned and saw what was happening and before anyone could run over to stop him, he’d shoved her in the trunk of his car and quickly got in the vehicle, driving away. Katie slammed her hands and kicked her feet against the trunk door. She hoped that if she made enough noise when the car slowed enough for people to notice, they’d help her.

She didn’t know how long she was in the dark trunk, but after what felt like hours, the car stopped. The trunk opened up and revealed Tarkin. He reached down and grabbed the scared girl in his car, dragging her out. The 10-year-old struggles against him and he rears his fist back to strike her in the head. He lets the girl fall to the ground and she stays there, groaning in pain and stuck in a daze. He reaches down and grabs her by the back of her dress and drags her away from the car. Katie is able to force herself to raise her head enough to try and see if she knew where she was.

She didn’t recognize the area. It was just a field and a bunch of woods in all directions and Tarkin was dragging her to the only building around. She looked at it and realized it was some old church. The windows were busted and it was worn down. Looks like it hadn’t been used in a long while. Tarkin throws open the doors and drags her to the little stage that the pastor and choir would stand on during service. Despite it not being used in years, she could tell that someone had been recently frequenting it. The stage had been altered. The most noticeable was a large singular wooden post that stood toward the back of the stage. Toward the front was an altar table that was around the same height as a coffee table. It was a long table. Her hands wouldn’t be able to reach the sides. On either side of the table were these metal bars, the kind used to tie stuff down. They were recently added too. In between the table and large post were two more posts. They were not as large or as thick as the post further back, and they had a single metal band around each of the two posts with a metal loop hanging off it.

Katie looked back at the table and saw all sorts of items. Knives, bundles of rope, a bible, lighters, incense, and other items. She notices that there were candles everywhere. She also noticed the time of day. She could see that the sky was turning orange indicating that the sun was setting. She struggled against her captor again and he threw her on the stage between the two posts. Before she could run, he started beating her. Tarkin was spewing things at her in a language she didn’t recognize. He stopped and she laid on the ground whimpering in pain too weak to get up. She wanted to go home.

While she lied there, Tarkin walked toward the altar and grabbed a couple bundles of rope. He drops most in front of her except one. He goes to the post on her left and starts tying a complicated knot through the ring. He left it and grabbed another bundle and tied the same complicated knot on the other ring of the other post. When he secured the rope to the posts, he grabbed one of her arms and tied it up the rope. Once that limb was secure, he did the same with the other. Her arms bound, Katie sat there kneeling tugging at her bonds trying to see if she could slip her hands out of the knots.

Without another word, Tarkin grabbed one of the lighters and started lighting up the candles set almost religiously around the stage, by the alter, by her, and further back on the stage. Katie was crying and shaking with fear as she watched him walk around the stage meticulously lighting every candle he had sitting around. From the looks of this, he’s been planning to do something for a while and Katie really didn’t want to know what.

Gathering her courage, she said, “I want to go home. Please let me go.”

Tarkin turned to look at her. His eyes were cold and uncaring. He sneered at the child and approached her, just staring at her with a blank expression. Suddenly, his eyes flared with anger and he backhanded her. She yelped in pain and tried to move away from him, but the ropes wouldn’t let her.

“Don’t think your little act is going to work on me, daemon,” he snarled at her. She looked at him confused. “Don’t give me that look. I’ve been onto you since the start. I can see that you have everyone else under your spell, but you won’t be corrupting me.” He grabbed her face in a painful grip. “Your eyes gave you away. In your arrogance, you failed to hide away your ungodly eyes.”

“My eyes don’t make me a demon, jerk,” Katie couldn’t help getting snarky. This guy kidnapped her, beat her, and is calling her a demon? Nah, this little girl ain’t playing your games.

“Only demons have such unnatural eyes and I will expel you from this mortal plane as is God’s will,” Tarkin shot back.

He turned to the altar table and started placing these tiny unlit candles in a circle around her. Then, he lit them as well. They smelled strong of something the girl couldn’t place.

“What is that?”

“Incense candles. This will purify the room and make it easier to expel you from your mortal form back to Hell.” He returned to the alter table and wrapped rosary beads around his hand. In his other hand was a canteen. It had the image of a Catholic Pope or some kind of Saint on it and he opened the lid. “Holy water. Now for the incantation.”

He started reciting something in Latin. He’d slowly walked around the little candle circle he created around her and would flick some of the water from the canteen at her. He did this till the sky turned black outside. When he stopped, he grabbed her chin in a painful grip and looked at her eyes.

“Ah, so you’re a much more powerful daemon if a basic exorcism didn’t work on you,” he growled, releasing her chin, “no matter. I just have to break your will to stay in the human world then.”

That’s how the next couple days went for her. He would beat her for so much as asking to use the restroom. She stayed tied up and he made sure to make her as miserable as he could make her. He would blare music loudly so she couldn’t even nod off. If she did, he’d dump a bucket of ice water on her. Then every evening, he’d stop the music and he would perform another exorcism on her. He’d up it every time. He’d still flick Holy water at her, but he’d also started throwing in weird smelling oils and powders as well. One time he poured an entire bag of rock salt on her, muttering about how demons hated salt. All it did was make any cuts or scrapes she had sting a lot.

Each night, he’d perform an exorcism to try and ‘expel’ her. Each night, nothing would happen. Each night, he’d get more frustrated and angry that she ‘wouldn’t return back to Hell like she was supposed to’.

Katie was losing hope though. She remembered the cops from the school assembly. The first 72 hours were the most important because it meant that she’d be found, but any day after, her chances of being found alive would get lower and lower. Her wrists were chafed and bloodied from the rope and her body ached in pain and hunger. She was so exhausted from a lack of sleep that she started hallucinating a bit. She’d make sure to try and drink any water that was dumped on her to stay hydrated.

One evening, after another failed ‘exorcism’, Tarkin was his most furious. His face was red and his eyes looked wild. Katie could only try and pull away form him, but again, the ropes wouldn’t let her. In his anger, he beat her again. Usually after that, he’d put the music on and leave to wherever he stays to sleep.

Except tonight seemed the worst.

He made sure to hit her hard in the stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs. While she coughed and tried to catch her breath, Tarkin went the the altar table and, in one move, swiped everything off the table. He marched back to her and untied the ropes from the posts and used them to drag her to the table. Katie, weakly, tried to pull away. Her tears blurring her sight like it had been the entire time. Her throat, while hoarse, still cried out in fear. He tied the ropes to the metal bars on either side of the table and made it so she’d be forced to be bent over the altar table, chest first.

Tarkin looked her over carefully. “You aren’t just some daemon, are you? No, if you were, you would have been gone days ago.” He paced around her for a bit, before kneeling in front of her. He pulled her head up by her hair and forced her to look at him. Katie whimpered in pain. His face was blank, studying her carefully. In all honesty, that blank look was probably the scariest he looked to her. His eyes widened in some weird realization his twisted mind had come up with. “I see now. You aren’t just a daemon. You’re a child of Satan, **himself**.” He got up and wandered behind her where she couldn’t see and heard him pick something up from the floor. She picked up her struggling against her bonds. She didn’t want to know what he planned to do to her this time. “Well, then I better make sure that, even if I fail, the rest of the world will know **what kind of monster you really are.”**

Tarkin kneeled behind her and, with the knife he picked up, started cutting away her clothing. He cut the straps of her dress and pulled it down so it’d pool around her knees. Dipping the knife under her shirt, he sliced it up the middle of her back. He moved the remains of her shirt so her back was exposed to the cooler air, goosebumps forming and a shiver going down her back. Tarkin stared at her for a moment and placed his hand on her back. Katie froze under his touch, her breathing stopped. Tarkin gently moved his hand over her back as if caressing it.

“Your master must be so proud of himself,” Tarkin whispered to her in awe, “you’re so warm and soft. It’s almost like you really are a child.”

“Or maybe, I really am a child,” she whispered, fearfully but defiant, “and you’re really the monster.”

The hand on her back froze, but Katie’s shaking didn’t.

“Maybe,” he admitted, “but I know you’re wrong.” He sat up so he was kneeling over her and pressed the tip of the blade against her shoulder. Katie’s eyes widened.

Then she screamed.

Tarkin pressed the blade into her skin and dragged it down her back. Katie screamed in pain and yanked on her bonds more trying to free herself. The pain she felt was nothing like she’d ever felt. Her back felt like it was on fire and wet at the same time. Blood poured down her back and it felt like every breath she took made the pain worse. For what felt like an eternity, Tarkin stopped. He was finished.

On the girl’s back, the bloody words ‘devil’s child’ were on the once unmarred skin.

Tarkin dropped the knife on the ground beside him, stood up and walked away further onto the stage. He grabbed one of the bags of rock salt and walked back over to the whimpering girl. He grinned maliciously and grabbed a handful of salt then threw it at the open wounds on her back. Katie arched her back as a new scream was ripped from her and tried sitting up enough to get the salt off. Tarkin just laughed at her like he was playing a practical joke on her and left her lying on the altar. He put the salt bag down, climbed down from the stage, and before he left for the night, he turned back to say one last thing to her.

“I need to get somethings and it might be a while before I get back. You’ll still be here when I do, right,” he sneered at her, grinning maniacally.

He laughed boisterously at his joke and left the church for the night. Katie laid there, her back screaming and blood drying and making her skin sticky. The salt, while stung like a bitch, helped stem the bleeding. She just had to not move. But as she laid there, dark thoughts started clouding her mind.

She realized that nobody was coming for her. It’s been at least a week she thinks and nobody other than Tarkin has been here. She really was going to die here…… and at the hands of a crazy person.

More tears spilled and her lip quivered as she cried. She wanted to go home. She wanted her mom and her dad. She wanted Sam and Dean. She wished she had just stayed in bed or had tried to use the gross smelling porto-potties instead of the church bathroom. She didn’t want to be here anymore.

Eventually, her exhausted mind allowed her some respite and she fell asleep draped over the altar table.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katie struggled weakly against her bonds. Tarkin didn’t come back and, thankfully, he hadn’t turned on the music, which gave the exhausted girl the respite she needed to rest. She would sleep for almost an entire day. It’s now mid-day of the second day he’d gone and she’s trying to take advantage of the alone time. Katie had decided that if nobody was going to come bloody save her, then she was going to save herself.

‘Adults are fucking useless,’ she thought darkly to herself, tugging at the ropes more.

She purposefully reopened the raw areas of her wrists. When they started bleeding again, she tried to angle the blood flow down to her hands and worked on getting her wrists to twist in the rope unhindered. When the rope allowed her to do that, she started trying to ease her left hand, she was a righty, through the rope around her wrist. It hurt, but she started to feel her hand slowly slip out. The spark of hope that came from this encourage her to keep going. A moment later, her hand was free.

She had to stop herself from getting to excited. She didn’t want to jinx herself.

Looking around, she noticed that the knife was still on the floor near her and grabbed it. She used it to cut the rope of her other wrist and shakily stood up for the first time since she arrived. Everything ached and her back kept screaming at her. She looked over what was left of her dress and found that the straps were long enough that she could tie them together so she can cover herself up again. Her back didn’t appreciate the fabric touching it, but she didn’t want to run around in just a torn shirt and underwear. Another reason to try and save the dress was because it had deep pockets, which is where she place her newly acquired knife. Using the table to steady her, she looked around. Everything was still as left and the sky told her it was still day. He usually saves his little torture sessions for the evening and she planned to be long gone before then. At least if he ever planned to come back. A part of her hoped that he just died sometime after he left her and his body just hadn’t been found yet. Then she remembered that if that happened, she’d never be found again.

She carefully climbed down the stage, slowly walked out of the sanctuary on shaky legs and exited into the lobby. She noticed on the ground Tarkin’s footsteps were visible on the dusty ground and, that instead of just leaving the building like she thought, they veered off as well. She followed them and it led to a well kept room. If she had to guess, this used to be the pastor’s office when the church was used. There was a cot and a mini fridge. She approached it and listened carefully. She could hear the fan for it running, indicating that this building had power or at least something was jury-rigged so the fridge could have power. Guess Tarkin used candlelight so he didn’t have to have a good look at what he was doing to a kid. What an asshole.

She opened it and there was bottled water and everything she’d need to make a sandwich, bread included. She put together a sandwich and ate it as fast as possible. Then, downed a whole bottle of water in one go. If she was going to make a run of it, she’s gonna need all the energy she can get. After that, she quickly left the office and headed right for the exit. She opened the door and stood out in the sunlight, trying to take comfort that she managed to get outside. She observed her environment. She was definitely right in think nobody would come for her despite all the screaming she did. The church was the only building for what seemed like miles. It didn’t even have a proper parking lot, just gravel everywhere. She found a dirt road that connected to the gravel lot and realized that it’s the only road. If Tarkin comes back, it’s gonna be that way, but she didn’t know where the closest town is if she just randomly ran through the field or woods. Not to mention, what might be an hour in the car is probably a few hours on foot.

Guess she’s taking the road.

“Okay,” she whispered to herself, “I just need to follow this road until I see the first building with people or a busy road. Somebody will be able to help me, right? I mean I’m a kid covered in her own blood. That’s gonna turn heads. Adults aren’t that fucking useless and are gonna help me.” Why does she still believe that adults were still helpful?

Probably because they are strong enough to fight Tarkin if he suddenly shows up. Plus, police officers were all adults. And they have guns! Maybe they’ll let her shoot out his knees or something.

However, before she could reach the road, Tarkin’s car pulled up. The two froze and stared at each other, her in fear and him in surprise. He definitely did not expect her to get free. Katie took off as fast as she could. Thank goodness, Tarkin didn’t take her shoes. She ran for the forest on her right. She was happy that her uncles took her hunting. She can at least move through it quickly and, if she can get away, she can live off the land until she could find help. Unfortunately, she briefly forgot that adults were bigger and faster and soon she was yanked up and slammed on the ground. Tarkin wasted no time in showing his displeasure for her attempted escape.

“Thought you could get away, you freak of nature,” he hissed at her.

“Only thing that is a freak of nature is that ugly face of yours,” she snarled back, defiantly, “it’s a face not even your mother loved I bet.” She was done crying and, if she was going to die here by his hands, then she was going to at least spit in his face.

The flash of anger on his face made her almost giddy if her body wasn’t in so much pain.

“You won’t be so mouthy after I’m done with you,” he said in a low voice.

He grabs her and drags her back inside the church and to the stage. He bypasses the altar and goes straight for the larger post. He throws her to it and she notices that it had a small platform built around it. She tries to make another run for it, but he hits her on the head and she sees stars. In her daze, she feels him shove her against the large post, back first causing her to whimper in pain, and she felt herself be tied to it. Her arms bound she manages to stand and tries to use her legs to push against the post. She hoped that she could loosen the ropes enough to slip out of them, but they held strong. She still knew she had the knife, but she didn’t want to use it until she had an opening. She hoped that whatever session he had planned for tonight would be short so she could be left alone. She’d wait until he went to bed for her to try and escape. Though she might have to wait a little longer since he’ll see the mess she left in his room….. she might’ve taken the remaining food in his fridge and made a mess on his cot on purpose.

What she wasn’t expecting was Tarkin brining in bundles of hay that evening and setting them in front of the platform she was forced to stand on. When he brought in all of them, he started situating them under and around the platform and the stage, like he was trying to make it difficult to get off it. She started getting nervous. This was different than usual. He changed his pattern.

Her curiosity got the best of her. “What are you doing?”

“I’ve figured out what you are,” he explained, “since I know an exorcism won’t get rid of you like it should, there is only one way to send you back to where you belong.”

“And what’s that?” She had an idea of what he might be planning to do to her, but she wanted to hear him say it.

“You have to be burned at the stake. The best way is to do it on holy ground,” he held his arms up and looked around the church as if showing it off to her, “your body is human, but your soul is that of a daemon. You have to be dealt with accordingly. You can’t be killed conventionally either. Shooting your or slitting your throat won’t work. Your soul will just jump to another vessel. In order for you to be removed from this mortal plane, your current body needs to be completely destroyed in order for you to be sent back to Hell. You’re bound to this current form.”

Her blood went cold. Is he for real? What kind of cockamamy half-assed plan is that? What kind of cuckoo la-la land is he getting his ideas from?

Once he situated the hay like he wanted, he left the church to go back to his car. While he was gone, she quickly reached into her pocket and grabbed the knife, keeping it hidden behind her arm. In her earlier struggling, she managed to have her body shift around the post enough that the hand holding the knife was hidden from view. She started looking around the room frantically. She wasn’t going to be able to run straight out of the way Tarkin was going, so she needed another escape route. She wouldn’t be able to make her escape until he started the fire. It would act as a barrier between her and Tarkin.

She looked at the parts of the sanctuary closest to the stage. While each were designed to be unique, each church had more than one exit from sanctuary and were required to have emergency exits. She noticed two doors, one on either side of the stage, were closest to her. The one on the left was covered with debris and the right was clear for her if she ran across the stage and Tarkin won’t to get to it from the sanctuary floor. Usually these exits will either lead straight outside or to the backstage area. If it’s a backstage area, then an emergency exit should not be very far from it either. If she remembered correctly, the edge of the forest should not be far from the church either. Tarkin is going to have to go the long way to reach her and so long as she just **doesn’t stop running** , she’ll make it into the woods and try to disappear as quick as possible. Tarkin has the air and attitude of someone who thinks he’s above camping or hunting. So he probably can’t track worth shit. If she stays smart, then she could get away. She just needs to find some thick brush to confuse him and then find a place to hide to lose him entirely.

Tarkin slams the entrance door open and Katie forces herself to look scared and to not look like she’s hiding a knife in her hand. Tarkin walks into the sanctuary holding a pair of gas cans…. That might complicate things…. But that might be what gives her her advantage. If Tarkin is too close to the front door, when he sees her running for the right emergency exit, he’ll get there, but she’ll go for the left exit….. at least if that emergency exit isn’t blocked like the stage door. That’ll suck. Then again, she noticed that a hall went all the way to the backstage area when she got free earlier, so she’ll just go for the front door and run for the road. She can veer off it and go right into the woods that sit on either side of it.

Tarkin splashed gas on the hay under the platform and a little on it. Katie tried to avoid as much of the gas as possible so she’d have an easier time escaping. Once he was satisfied, Tarkin led a trail of gas to the hay he had set around making sure every bundle of hay had gas on it. That emptied the first can. The second can was used to lay another trail and then got the hay he laid out in front of the stage. Just as she thought, he used the last of the second can to pour a trail from the stage to the far entrance of the sanctuary. As he was doing this, Katie, very carefully started cutting the rope. When she felt that it only needed a couple more strokes of the knife, she paused. If she tried to escape too soon, he’ll catch her and she won’t be able to escape. When he finished, he tossed the canister to the side. He looked at her with an air of finality.

“May you burn for all eternity, devil’s child,” he declared. She glared defiantly at him. He pulled out a box of matches and pulled out a single match. He struck it and dropped it at the start of the gas trail. As the fire started going down the sanctuary aisle to the stage, Katie waited until the fire reached the hay at the front of the stage. When it reached the hay, she slowly cut more of the rope. When it reached the hay halfway across the stage from her, she cut the rope and let it fall to her feet and quickly tucked the knife back in her pocket in case Tarkin couldn’t see it. If Tarkin catches her, she’ll use it to stab him and free herself. She could see Tarkin’s surprised face, but acted like she was still trapped. When it reached the hay at the podium, she jumped onto the part of the stage that wasn’t on fire and ran for the the side entrance by the stage.

She heard Tarkin curse loudly, but she didn’t look to see what he would do. She just ran out the door. She entered into a hallway like she thought and saw the emergency exit a few feet away from her down the hall. She rushed to it and pushed against it. It didn’t open. She ran to the emergency exit for the left side of the stage and it wouldn’t open either. Panic started to rise, but she stopped and took a deep breath to calm herself.

Then, she started coughing. She forgot about the damn smoke.

She couldn’t let this deter her. She ran down the hallway on the left side of the church and stopped to check around the corner into the church lobby. Seeing no sign of Tarkin and seeing the door wide open, she ran for it. She managed to get outside, down the steps and was passing his car, when she felt someone grab her by the back of her dress. He caught her.

“Didn’t know that I sealed those exits, did ya,” he taunted, sneering down at her.

Quickly reaching into her pocket, she pulls out the knife and stabs him in the side. Yowling in pain, he releases the girl and she tries to run, but as if expecting her to try that, he grabbed her again. He threw her on the ground and straddled her legs. He hit her a few times before wrapping his hands around her neck and squeezed. She struggled against him trying to pry his hands off her, even tried to reach her knife, but he knocked it away from the two of them and, specifically, out of her reach.

“Don’t worry,” he mocked, “it’s only till you pass out. Then, I’ll make sure your properly destroyed.”

She felt herself getting lightheaded and could see black edging in her vision. This is it. She was going to die. Then, she heard it.

Police sirens.

Without either of them realizing, police vehicles had come barreling into the gravel lot. Officers got out of their vehicles and pointed their weapons at Tarkin. Tarkin removed his hands from her throat and raised them in defeat. Katie gasped in relief as oxygen flooded her greedy lungs. Tarkin was yanked off her and she turned to cough trying to make another run in case Tarkin tried to get her. She managed a few feet before a man in a suit intercepted her by moving in front of her and caught her. He held her out in front of him at arms length so she could see him. He was a black man with a military crew cut. He had dark colored eyes and….. they looked kind. Much different than what she had seen in Tarkin’s. His suit was blue, but he wore a bright red tie. She didn’t think it went well, but she guessed whatever worked for him?

“Whoa, whoa, kid. Easy,” he said, kneeling down so he was at eye level to her, “You’re okay now.” He looked her over and noticed the damage to her clothes. He could see the exhaustion in her eyes. He gently turned her so he could see the damage and winced. He released her, but she didn’t run. He peeled off his jacket and gently placed it over her shoulders. She noticed how warm it was and that she was actually shaking with how cold it was outside. “My name is Special Agent William Fowler from the FBI. I was tasked with finding you and returning you to your family. They are very worried about you.”

Without thinking, she subconsciously blurted out, “identification or you’re a phony and I won’t go with you.” Man, her parents really drilled that into her head. Huh.

He laughed and, humorously, reached into the coat he wrapped her up in and pulled his badge from the inside pocket, showing her. Apparently, he has hazel eyes like her dad and, if that tie in the picture indicated anything, is a Dallas Cowboys fan.

“Ew, you like the Cowboys,” she quipped, tiredly.

He laughed again, “your dad said you’d say that. Redskins girl, right?”

“Born and raised.”

She started to sway a bit and found herself falling into Fowler. He caught her and easily supported her weight. Looks like she’s getting dizzy. Whether it’s from the blood loss or possible concussion or even exhaustion, she guessed she’d find out at the hospital. She tensed when she heard Tarkin start shouting behind her.

“DON’T YOU SEE WHAT I’M TRYING TO DO,” he screeched, “I’M TRYING TO SAVE OUR WORLD FROM THE APOCALYPSE!!! SHE’S THE DEVIL’S CHILD. SHE WAS SENT BY SATAN TO LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR THE END!!! SHE HAS TO BE DESTROYED!! CAST HER INTO THE FIRE!! YOU’LL SEE!! YOU’LL SEE I’M RIGHT!!” The officers struggled, but eventually they got the screaming man into the back of one of the many cruisers.

Fowler adjusted his hold on her and his stance so he could hide her from Tarkin’s gaze. “Don’t you worry about him anymore,” he comforted the girl, looking at her, “he can’t hurt you anymore.”

She looked at him, “can I go home now?”

“Gotta take you to the hospital first. Don’t worry,” he assured, “I’ll make sure your parents know which hospital and you’ll see them very soon. Do you want anything?”

She looked down for a moment thinking, then looked back at Agent Fowler. “Can we get Five Guys?”

He started laughing again. “After what you went through, kid, I’ll get you Five Guys every time I visit you, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geez, poor girl’s been through the ringer, huh? At least she’s fine now.
> 
> Just needs a few years of therapy and the eventual meeting of a pair of Irish lads to get her shit back together, am I right?
> 
> I’ll see you all next week.
> 
> I hope you all have enjoyed reading my fic as much as I have writing it.
> 
> Love you all!! Be safe!!! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Whoo, bit of build up. Yes, she has rainbow-dyed hair. I’m kinda living a bit vicariously through her as I write her. She also has multi-colored eyes (I spent over an hour on the internet looking up if it was possible to be born with multiple eye colors and it is and I only used eye colors that are possible to have. It’s kind of a mix of heterochromia and another thing that I can’t remember. In her left eye, it’s amber with a splash of green above her iris. In her right eye, it’s violet with blue poking in under the iris.
> 
> It does kind of give an anime character kind of feel and that’s because I had been watching too much anime recently and I apologize. Again, I am living vicariously through her and this is how I imagine her.
> 
> I might not give Doc many lines beyond what he has from the movies, because I struggled trying to write him with respect to his Tourette’s. In previous iterations of this chapter, I gave him more lines and everytime I kept trying to write them, I kept feeling like I was doing it wrong and that’s not fair to the character. So sorry if I keep him with minimal lines.
> 
> Another thing I’d like to mention is I suck at accents. I’ll mostly write Connor and Murphy’s lines like normal, but as I write them, the style will probably change little bit each time to try and make up for it, but it’s not gonna be perfect and I ask that you be a littel understanding. I’ve read quite a few fanfics where there are others who’ve struggled with accents as well, so it’s nice knowing I’m not alone in this.
> 
> Finally, I’d like to talk about why I did this. So I saw on AO3 and on Tumblr people talking or creating fanfics that had BDS and TWD crossover and considering when the movies took place and when the show started up, I thought that that was pretty fucking cool. Then I saw someone had not only done a crossover, but had done a connor/murphy/daryl/carol ship. I’ve read oc or reader/daryl, and oc or reader/connor/murphy, but no oc/connor/murphy/daryl and I ended up with a SUDDEN NEED. And I figured that if I wrote this, there might be others who would like to see this ship and maybe be inspired to do it too.
> 
> This is not the first fanfic I’ve written, although it is the first I’ve ever written and posted on AO3. It’s also the first poly ship I’ve ever written and I plan to try and do my best to make this good. No, I will not be letting people see my other stories or where I’ve posted them. I kinda abandoned them. I wrote them towards the end of high school and like the first year of college a few years ago.
> 
> I will also be posting the link to my story on my tumblr: fandomsaremykryptonite . If you wanna chat or offer advice on how to write good poly ships (in case you more experience writers read this), I’d really appreciate it. I do plan to do a lot of research and googling when I get to TWD and working on trying to get Daryl into the ship.
> 
> I really do hop you all enjoy this as much as I’ve enjoyed trying to figure out how to write this.
> 
> I also promise to not have notes as long as this in the future.
> 
> See you in the next chapter!!! Love you lots and please stay safe in our crazy world!!


End file.
